Ofwat has today announced that it is opening an enforcement case into Thames Water to investigate whether its delayed delivery of environmental improvement schemes has meant that the company has breached its obligations.
Thames Water committed to deliver 812 schemes as part of the Water Industry National Environmental Programme (WINEP) during the AMP7 period 2020 to 2025. Completing the environmental schemes on time is essential for companies to ensure that they are compliant with statutory requirements.
WINEP is the programme of actions water companies need to take to meet statutory environmental obligations, non-statutory environmental requirements or delivery against a water company’s statutory functions.
However, as part of Ofwat’s monitoring and engagement, Thames Water alerted Ofwat and the Environment Agency that it will be unlikely to deliver more than 100 of these environmental improvement schemes on time, by 31 March 2025.
Lynn Parker, Senior Director for Enforcement at Ofwat, said:
“Customers have paid for Thames Water to carry out these essential environmental schemes. We take any indication that water companies are not meeting their legal obligations very seriously. Therefore, we have launched an investigation to understand whether the delayed delivery of environmental schemes means that Thames Water has breached its obligations. If we find reason to act, we will use our full range of powers to hold Thames to account for any failures and will require them to put things right.”
While Ofwat has concerns which it must investigate, opening an enforcement case does not automatically imply the company has breached their obligations. Once Ofwat has fully investigated, it will publish details of its findings and, where appropriate, any proposed action to remedy any identified breaches.
Ofwat will investigate whether the delayed delivery means that the water company has breached or will be likely to breach the legal obligations Ofwat is responsible for enforcing. and whether enforcement action is required.
Sulzer has launched a new global Center of Excellence (CoE) for Water Treatment Solutions - the CoE consolidates Sulzer’s wastewater treatment expertise in a unified and global manner.
“SAS (Surplus Activated Sludge) is a bit weird and 
Owen Mace has taken over as Director of the British Plastics Federation (BPF) Plastic Pipes Group on the retirement of Caroline Ayres. He was previously Standards and Technical Manager for the group.
PureTec Separations, the Ledbury-based water treatment engineering firm, has appointed Dan Norman as its new Sales Manager – Water Process Systems, supporting the company’s continued growth in the UK and international markets.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Hear how United Utilities is accelerating its investment to reduce spills from storm overflows across the Northwest.
Find out more about the remarkable career opportunities on offer at WSP - scroll down to watch the inspirational video.