Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 31
31
Not Addressed
Paragraph: 180
The statutory requirements on monitoring and transparency introduced by the Environment Act 2021 establish a...
Recommendation
The statutory requirements on monitoring and transparency introduced by the Environment Act 2021 establish a welcome baseline. There is nevertheless scope to improve the nature of data which water companies collect about the operation of their sewerage networks, and to make it available to regulators and to the public. We recommend that Ofwat and the Environment Agency require each water and sewerage company in England to publish on its website, by the end of 2022, details of its discharge permits, its permit compliance, and full granular 15-minute data on spill duration, volume and water quality, to a standard format which facilitates easy capture and analysis by members of the public.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government discusses reforms to improve recycling consistency and roll out universal separate food waste collections, which is irrelevant to the recommendation about water company data publication.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
180
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government · verbatim extract
Not Addressed
The Government is currently exploring the best way to make data generated by the Environment Act duties available to the public. The annual summary returns of spills as required from the Environment Act 2021 (141C & 141D) provide the high-level picture that most stakeholders require. Publishing the volume of discharge and quality of the water receiving discharge, where measured, is also supported and is already a requirement of the Environment Act 2021. Response provided by Ofwat to the recommendation at paragraph 180 Ofwat agree that reporting needs to be suitably detailed, accessible and transparent to all, and note companies have existing obligations in relation to environmental information under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, which they expect them to comply with. Ofwat will continue to work with the Environment Agency to make progress on improving reporting by the end of 2022. Water companies should be reporting in a standardised and comprehensive way on the details of their discharge permits, permit compliance and spill data. The Environment Agency, companies and other key stakeholders are best placed to identify the optimal monitoring requirements. As the Committee sets out, the statutory requirements on monitoring and transparency introduced by the Environment Act 2021 will establish a welcome baseline. This, along with the existing monitoring and reporting requirements and those commitments agreed through the work of the storm overflows taskforce, will help ensure that water and sewerage companies are making their data transparent and accessible to regulators and the public. Important for achieving this will be the acceleration of installing event duration monitors. As more data becomes available, Ofwat will work with the Environment Agency to keep our regulatory approach under review, including assessing whether future regulatory action is required. Alongside this, Ofwat are making the case for more open data in the water sector. Across the sector Ofwat have seen some good practice, but very few companies have introduced open access to their data sets.
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