The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs has published new guidance for the Environment Agency setting out expectations for the main steps and principles of the river basin planning process.

The Government has accepted the National Infrastructure Commission recommendation to implement resilience standards for infrastructure operators and stress testing against the standards, subject to the outcome of the current National Resilience Strategy call for evidence.

The House of Lords has voted 184 votes to 147 to support an amendment to the Environment Bill imposing a new legal duty on water companies to "take all reasonable steps" to ensure untreated sewage is not discharged from storm overflows into inland waters.

Ofwat has today given its backing for 15 projects on the £500 million programme being overseen by the Regulators Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development (RAPID) to progress further.

The Salmon & Trout Conservation has submitted a formal complaint to the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) on the failure of OFWAT and Secretaries of State to enforce law on sewage pollution of English rivers.

The Environment Agency has just issued new guidance to water companies notifying them that they will be exempt from their permit obligations to discharge treated effluent from waste water treatment works to surface water or groundwater in the event of “supply chain failures” to obtain the necessary treatment chemicals.

The Government has brought in new measures in the Environment Bill to tackle storm overflows with a new requirement for water companies to monitor the water quality impacts of their sewage discharges and publish the information.