The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has launched a new wide-ranging consultation on its proposals to modernise water regulation, improve long-term planning for water resources and drainage and strengthen powers for Ofwat.

The Department of Environment Food & Rural Affairs has published a joint letter to water companies on behalf of Defra, the Environment Agency, the Drinking Water Inspectorate and Ofwat setting out plans to build resilience in water resources management in England.

The National Drought Group (NDG) has met again this week to assess the water resource situation and actions being taken to reduce risk for summer 2019 – including how issues from EU Exit may impact on water resources for later in the year.

A new report from the World Economic Forum is warning that environmental degradation is the long-term risk that defines our age, with four of the top five most impactful global risks in 2019 related to climate change.

Engineering and professional services consultancy, WSP, has been appointed by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) to conduct research to support the Government’s third UK Climate Change Risk Assessment.

Yorkshire Water has announced it is to become the first water company to regularly publish its full data on the region’s water resources – the data is generated by the water and normally only shared with the Environment Agency.

The Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) is set to debate the potential benefits and pitfalls of Wales sharing more of its water resources with England when it meets in Cardiff today.

Jersey Water is preparing its desalination plant to be brought in to service as a precautionary measure due to very low Autumn rainfall and the long term forecast predicting drier than average weather through to the end of January 2019.

One year on from the launch of the Waterwise Water Efficiency Strategy for the UK in June 2017, the project, which has led to a major policy shift supporting greater demand management, continues to go from strength to strength.

Experts from the Department for Food Environment and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency have asked the water companies to confirm that they are doing “everything possible to act early” to plan for possible pressure on water supplies next year.