The Secretary of State for Defra, Steve Reed OBE MP, has announced plans for a new Water (Special Measures) Bill.
The new legislation, which will apply in England and Wales, will give increased power to regulators to tackle companies who pollute and make it easier for them to get fined.
The Clean Water Sports Alliance welcomes the announcement of the new Bill and also the promise of further reform.
The Alliance, which has now grown to nine national governing bodies of sport, has been strongly advocating for the water regulator to be properly resourced to be able to properly hold polluters to account.
Under plans announced, the cap on fines is too be lifted and that money invested back into environmental improvement.
The measures set out in the new Bill will also ban water company bosses from receiving bonuses following poor performance and even threatens prison sentences.
While the Alliance welcomes these new powers, we feel it is essential that the Environment Agency has the funding and resources to be able to uphold existing laws, whilst increasing testing and investigating breaches of the law fully.
Also set out in the new Bill, is an intention for independent monitoring of all outlets, in real time, with data open and accessible to all. Access to accurate, real time data is one of the Clean Water Sports Alliance’s top three priorities.
While some progress has been made through the publishing of water company discharge maps, we welcome all moves towards greater transparency and availability of data as a means of enabling our communities to make informed decisions.
The Secretary of State set out in his speech a promise to undertake a full review to of the water sector and to introduce ‘radical new reform’.
To date, the needs of recreational blue space users has largely been absent in policy making. It is hoped that the setting for the Secretary of State’s speech today is an indication that the need to protect human health will be fully considered.
The Alliance sees today as a positive first step in addressing our broken water sector.
Head of Access & Environment at Paddle UK, Ben Seal, said:
“The announcement made today is a welcome step forward on the pathway to cleaner waters, but this really is just the tip of the iceberg in fixing our broken water sector.”
“Water companies are just part of a much bigger problem of pollution in our waters and we want to see the Government tackling agriculture, road and chemical pollution with the same vigour.”
Ben added:
“Our Alliance will continue to advocate for strengthened legal duties on water industry regulators to improve both the environment and importantly, protect human health.
“We hope that Ministers will now listen carefully to the concerns from the watersports community and act quickly to protect and recover our precious blue spaces for people and nature.”
The Clean Water Sports Alliance are asking for healthy and nature-rich blue spaces for everyone to enjoy.
