Recommendation 68

HM Government Not Addressed

The Government welcomes the Environmental Audit Committee’s report titled Water Quality in Rivers, published on 13 January 2022. We are grateful to the committee for their conclusions and recommendations, and to those who provided evidence. Restoring water quality is a priority for the Government. We have already taken significant action in a range of areas including tackling sources of pollution, investing in river restoration and setting out long term plans and targets to drive further improvements. This includes our current consultation on the first suite of targets under the Environment Act 2021, which sets out proposals for several new legally-binding, targets to restore the water environment and improve water quality and availability: • reducing nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution from agriculture to the water environment by at least 40% and reducing phosphorus loadings from treated wastewater by 80% by 2037; • reducing the length of rivers and estuaries polluted by metals from abandoned mines by 50% by 2037; • reducing public water supply usage in England per person by 20% by 2037. These targets will act as powerful tools to deliver cleaner water, increase biodiversity and protect the water environment for future generations. However, as the committee rightly points out, we agree that there is more to do and we intend to set out a comprehensive approach to improving water quality in our update of the 25 Year Environment Plan in January 2023. This will ensure that our approach to water quality is holistic and takes into account significant co-benefits, such as those in relation to biodiversity, and impacts from other policy areas within Defra and across Government. However, we recognise the importance of continuing to act now, while we build the important evidence base and policy content to inform the plan. We will continue to tackle the pressures on the water environment. We are the first Government to place a duty requiring water companies to secure a progressive reduction in the adverse impacts of discharges from storm overflows, through the landmark Environment Act 2021. We have made clear to water companies that they must improve their environmental performance. Since 2015 the Environment Agency has brought 48