Northumbrian Water Group has gone out to tender with a contract for the provision of technical and commercial services relating predominantly to capital investment on both its infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects and programmes worth an estimated £152 million.

Appearing before the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee last week, Environmental Audit Committee Chair Rt. Hon Phillip Dunne MP questioned the effectiveness of water sector regulators Ofwat and the Environment Agency.

Ofwat is warning that the delivery of multi-sector reservoir (MSR) systems cannot be subsidised by water customers, saying that “as a principle, public water supply customers should not subsidise other reservoir users and we expect costs to be fairly shared between users.”

NI Water has announced a £1.2 billion Major Project Partnership Framework (MPPF), which will deliver large, capital works projects (over £10m in value) on water and wastewater infrastructure across Northern Ireland.

United Utilities has gone out to tender with a £1.75 billion contract to secure a Competitively Appointed Provider (CAP) via Ofwat’s Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC) process for its Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme.

Southern Water is getting ready to start planned improvement works later this year at Bewl Water to ensure a safe and sustainable long-term future for the vital reservoir.

The Environment Agency (EA) has launched a roadmap setting out practical actions to be taken over the next four years to tackle the growing threat of flooding from rivers, the sea, and surface water as well as coastal erosion.

South Holland Internal Drainage Board (IDB) has awarded Barhale a contract to install, reinforce and renovate vital drainage works in Lincolnshire.

Ofwat has today confirmed it will continue to provide ring-fenced funding for further investigations into four strategic regional water resource solutions in England. The proposed solutions could provide long-term, resilient water supplies to drier parts of the country.

Ofwat Chief Executive David Black has set out the regulator’s expectations for water companies and investors at the upcoming Price Review in 2024.