The local authority has published an in-depth report on the UK’s beleaguered water network, calling for public ownership, adequate government funding, a new regulator, environmental impact ratings, and a revised monitoring regime.
The assessment has been produced by a council panel initially set up to monitor the failing UK supplier, Southern Water, responsible for providing water to some 4million customers. Distributed just before Christmas, the paper followed a ‘comprehensive review of the water industry, which included meetings with a wide range of stakeholders.
These included Southern Water, the Environmental Agency, Natural England, Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust, the National Farmers’ Union, Environmental Law Foundation and local campaign groups. Richard Murphy, Professor of Accounting at Sheffield University Management School, also presented information on alternative sustainable financial models for delivering and maintaining water networks and water as a utility.
Among other things, the report calls for:
*All water companies, including Southern Water, to be taken back into public ownership.
*Adequate funding to upgrade sewerage infrastructure.
* The replacement of water industry regulator Ofwat, be replaced with ‘a fit for purpose regulator that prioritises the public interest and health and wellbeing over company profits.’
* Sufficient resources for the Environment Agency to monitor and regulate water companies effectively.
* Introduction of new environmental impact ratings for water companies.
* Review and revision of current regime for sewage treatment works.
* Investment in research into new technologies to treat and regulate emerging pollutants such as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), pharmaceuticals, and microplastics.
* An improved monitoring regime for both coastal and inland bathing areas .
* The introduction of measures to ensure transparent and ethical management of water companies.
* Stronger requirements in the planning system to reduce water consumption and for Southern Water to engage fully with requests from Lewes District Council for information on the potential cumulative impact on sewage discharges of proposed major developments.
You can read the full report here.
‘Lewes District Council has made a public commitment to doing all we can to address the scandal of poor water quality, including holding water companies and their regulators to account,’ said Cllr Emily O’Brien, Lewes District Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate, Nature and Food Systems.
‘This report is a pioneering piece of work for a local authority, and we are now calling on the government to take action to address the serious problems that we have identified,’ said Cllr. Paul Keene, Chair of the authority’s Southern Water Panel. ‘We have engaged with a wide range of stakeholders to develop a far-reaching set of recommendations that we believe will make a real difference to the water quality in our district.’
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