A new report from the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) says there are positive early signs that a key legal obligation, designed to put the environment at the heart of government policy making, is being supported by government, but more still needs to be done.

On 25 February Ofwat hosted its Turning the Tide conference in Westminster bringing together water companies, eNGOs, campaigners and others from the sector to discuss the AMP8 period and year ahead.

The Independent Water Commission chaired by Sir Jon Cunliffe has today published a call for evidence setting out the current issues in the sector and areas for potential change that the commission wishes to explore.

The Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 received Royal Assent yesterday, boosting the powers of water sector regulators to tackle pollution. The major legislation to crack down on water company executives polluting Britain’s rivers, lakes and seas has been signed into law in the most significant increase to enforcement powers in a decade.

Ofwat has agreed that the proposed Havant Thicket Reservoir solution should continue to receive development funding to progress to gate four of the RAPID process – despite significant concerns raised by a wide range of stakeholders following the water sector regulator’s draft decision published on 12 November 2024.

The EFRA Committee will continue its ‘reforming the water sector’ inquiry this week – four more water companies are due to appear before the Committee during two evidence sessions on the mornings of 25 and 26 February.

Yesterday France passed a new law that will ban PFAS in several products including clothing and cosmetics. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a family of over 10,000 highly persistent synthetic chemicals often called ‘forever chemicals’, because they do not break down easily in the environment.