The House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee will continue its inquiry on the work of Ofwat by taking evidence from Thérèse Coffey MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 3pm tomorrow.
Members will ask questions relating to sewage discharged in rivers and beaches, regulatory penalties and fines, and future water demand. Possible questions which could be put to the Minister include:
- Why have the Government and regulators failed to ensure a reduction in the levels of sewage discharged in the UK’s rivers and beaches?
- Should a single social tariff be introduced covering all water companies in England and Wales, so that the same support for those struggling to pay their bills is available regardless of postcode?
- Has Ofwat’s Price Review process delivered sufficient investment in the sector? Should strategic, significant infrastructure projects be delivered outside of the Price Review process?
- Are regulatory penalties and fines strong enough to act as a deterrent, particularly in relation to pollution incidents?
Ahead of tomorrow’s evidence session, Lord Hollick, Chair of the Committee, wrote to Thérèse Coffey with some questions which she failed to answer. She declined to answer a number of the questions put to her on the grounds that many of the questions were beyond the scope of the inquiry, commenting:
“I note the topic and scope of your inquiry. I suggest many of your questions go beyond the scope of your inquiry and I have answered the questions that are in scope.”
Ms. Coffey opted instead to respond to five questions.
In response to Lord Hollick’s question with the regard to the Government’s estimate of the level of infrastructure investment needed to eliminate sewage spillages and the Government’s failure to require the regulators and water companies to agree and implement binding investment plans of sufficient scale to eliminate unacceptable levels of sewage spillages, she commented:
“We have not failed in this regard.
“The costs of eliminating sewage spillages through different types of intervention are set out in full in the Storm Overflows Elimination Report, which shows that shows achieving complete elimination on a national level was unfeasible, due to the financial cost and the impact on customer bills. The report found that achieving complete elimination through separation of all combined sewer pipes into separate sewer and surface water pipes could cost up to £600 billion and increase annual water bills by up to £817 by 2049. Achieving complete elimination using a combination of increasing network storage and using Sustainable Drainage Systems could cost up to £200 billion.”
Click here to watch the session live or afterwards on Parliament TV.
Click here to read Tor in person in Committee Room 3, Palace of Westminster.
Sulzer has launched a new global Center of Excellence (CoE) for Water Treatment Solutions - the CoE consolidates Sulzer’s wastewater treatment expertise in a unified and global manner.
“SAS (Surplus Activated Sludge) is a bit weird and 
Owen Mace has taken over as Director of the British Plastics Federation (BPF) Plastic Pipes Group on the retirement of Caroline Ayres. He was previously Standards and Technical Manager for the group.
PureTec Separations, the Ledbury-based water treatment engineering firm, has appointed Dan Norman as its new Sales Manager – Water Process Systems, supporting the company’s continued growth in the UK and international markets.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Hear how United Utilities is accelerating its investment to reduce spills from storm overflows across the Northwest.
Find out more about the remarkable career opportunities on offer at WSP - scroll down to watch the inspirational video.