Landmark legislation to crack down on bosses for polluting water - Defra

Introduction of major new legislation for the water sector will deliver the most significant increase in enforcement powers in a decade

Major legislation to crack down on water bosses polluting Britain’s rivers, lakes and seas is being set out today and includes the most significant increase in enforcement powers in a decade.

The Water (Special Measures) Bill has been introduced to parliament and will give regulators new powers to take tougher and faster action to crack down on water companies damaging the environment and failing their customers.

The introduction of the Bill comes as Secretary of State Steve Reed is set to deliver a speech at Thames Rowing Club on Thursday 5th September to representatives from the water industry, investors, environmental groups and campaigners setting out his plans to transform the water sector.

The Bill delivers on the manifesto pledges to clean up the water sector, including significantly increasing the ability of the Environment Agency to bring forward criminal charges against law-breaking water executives. It will create new tougher penalties, including imprisonment, for water executives when companies fail to co-operate or obstruct investigations.

The new legislation will also ban the payment of bonuses to water bosses if they fail to meet high standards to protect the environment, their consumers and their company’s finances.

Other measures in the Bill include severe and automatic fines for a range of offences, including allowing regulators to issue penalties more quickly, without having to direct resources to lengthy investigations. It will also introduce independent monitoring of every sewage outlet, with water companies required to publish real-time data for all emergency overflows. Discharges will have to be reported within an hour of the initial spill.