Ofwat is consulting on its proposed arrangements to ensure that, where an appointed company decides to exit the non-household retail market, eligible customers in an exit area can secure a retail supplier – something it anticipates will “happen on a frequent basis” where it will need to allocate single customers to a supplier.

 The Environment Agency has published a paper setting out its position on accepting DNA-based methods for environmental monitoring and decision-making in the absence of a regulated framework to validate the methods.

Water industry regulator Ofwat has launched a formal consultation on a new approach to connections charging for companies wholly or mainly in England.

Both the water sector and the regulator are facing "a challenging few years" with the opening of the retail market for business customers by April 2017, the 2019 price review, introducing new markets for sludge and water resources and potentially preparing for legislation and the introduction of a residential retail market in England, according to Ofwat's annual report and accounts for 2015/16.

United Utilities Water Limited (UU) has been fined £600,000 and its contractor, KMI+ £333,000 at Bolton Crown Court on Friday 24 June 2016 after pleading guilty to polluting a brook with corrosive bleach.