The petition of residents of the constituency of Glastonbury and Somerton,
Declares that the River Brue is a valued ecological area that supports local trout, eel and other fish populations; further declares that the River Brue was polluted by sewage 203 times in 2025 lasting 2,716 hours; further notes with concern the high phosphate levels in the Brue; further notes the work done by groups such as the Brue Crew, Somerset Wildlife Trust and the Somerset Eel Recovery Project to campaign for the River Brue’s health; further notes the use of the River Brue for recreational use and wild swimming; further declares that the Government should replace Ofwat with a stronger unified regulator; further declares that there should be full transparency on sewage discharges including mandatory reporting of volume as well as duration; further declares that there should be a shift to public benefit models for water companies that are mutually owned by customers and professionally managed to ensure profits are reinvested into infrastructure; and further declares that action should be taken to close loopholes that allow water company executives to avoid bonus restrictions.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to take further action to save the River Brue catchment, starting with replacing Ofwat with a stronger unified regulator, and enforcing full transparency on sewage discharges.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Sarah Dyke, Official Report, 22 April 2026; Vol. 784, c. 405.]
[P003189]
Observations from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Emma Hardy):
Main Response:
We have begun rebuilding the water network to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. In one of the largest infrastructure projects in this country’s history, £104 billion is being invested to upgrade crumbling pipes and sewage treatment works across the country.
Water companies are investing over £10 billion, a record amount, to improve nearly 2,500 storm overflows across England by 2030.
By 2050 we are expecting £60 billion of investment to have been delivered across England—this figure is set out in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs impact assessment for the storm overflows discharge reduction plan. Guided by the plan, improvements in this price review are being front-loaded in the most urgent areas. We are expecting water companies first to tackle the worst-polluting and most harmful storm overflows, prioritising those discharging near designated bathing waters and into or near high-priority sites.
Customer bills earmarked for investment must now be spent on new sewage pipes and treatment works, not spent on shareholder payments or bonuses. The Government have taken decisive action through the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025, which delivered immediate measures to tackle poor performance, including banning unfair executive bonuses. More than £4 million of unfair bonuses were rightly blocked by Ofwat for 2024-25.
We are aware that concerns have been noted about a lack of transparency regarding reporting of executive pay in the water sector. The Government will not tolerate any company attempting to circumvent the bonus rule by introducing salary increases to offset any bonus losses, such as via new financial vehicles, payments through parent companies, or any other mechanism. Ofwat has consulted on tightening requirements. Companies are now required to publicly report the total remuneration received by each director and a breakdown of the different elements of that remuneration—for example, base salary, performance-related pay and other benefits—including explanations of what each element of pay relates to, across regulated, group and parent companies.
The Environment Agency attends pollution incidents in the Brue catchment. Where there is significant harm to the environment, the EA will not hesitate to take the appropriate enforcement action.
Under AMP8 (2025 to 30) of the water industry national environment programme, Wessex Water is undertaking the following measures within the Brue catchment:
Investigation of 11 storm overflows identified as frequently spilling, to determine the contributing factors and to identify measures to reduce spill frequency and associated environmental risk.
In agreement with the Environment Agency, delivery of innovative nature-based treatment trial solutions at three storm overflows by March 2030. The trials are intended to reduce the environmental impact of these discharges and to ensure no ecological harm to the River Brue.
Installation of event duration monitoring at 13 wastewater pumping stations that hold permits only for emergency overflows, in accordance with regulatory requirements.
Upgrades at seven wastewater treatment works to achieve compliance with tightened phosphorus permit limits.
Upgrades at Shepton Mallet wastewater treatment works to meet a new zinc improvement limit.
The EA, between April 2025 and March 2026, has inspected 60 of Wessex Water’s 84 permitted sites in the Brue catchment. Where the EA found issues, it required Wessex Water to improve its sites and operations. This was part of a national programme to increase scrutiny of water companies. The EA will return to previously inspected sites to confirm that improvements have been made.
To fund its tougher inspections and enforcement regime, the EA has increased its water quality charges to £149 million from 2025-26, ensuring that water companies pay the cost of regulating the sector. In March 2026 the EA hit a key milestone, completing over 10,000 inspections of water company assets in the last 12 months.
The White Paper sets out our intention to establish a new powerful single regulator, bringing together the relevant functions from the existing regulators into one new body, as part of stronger, prevention-first regulation and a whole-sector approach for tackling water pollution and protecting the environment and public health. That means nowhere to hide poor performance, building on action already taken to ban bonuses, to ensure that bills are fair and affordable, to secure record levels of investment and to introduce tougher laws in the sector.
It is important that water companies fit the most appropriate type of monitors to ensure that we gain valuable information on sewage discharges. Installing the type of monitor required to accurately and reliably measure the volume of a sewage discharge would require significant investment and provide limited additional insight into the impact of a discharge. Instead, we are choosing to focus on the roll-out of continuous water quality monitoring, starting with CWQMs at 25% of storm overflows and wastewater treatment works by 2030. CWQMs will help quantify the local water quality impacts of sewerage undertaker assets on our water courses, increase public understanding of the same, and inform regulatory action and improvement programmes. Supporting this approach, the Independent Water Commissioner acknowledged that measuring the impact, rather than the volume, of storm overflow discharges is the best approach to ensure that the effect on the environment is understood.
Regarding ownership models, the Independent Water Commission’s final report found no link between ownership model and performance. Any mandatory changes in ownership would be costly and complicated, and would not deliver a material benefit to the public and the environment. As detailed in the White Paper, we are making it easier for a company’s owners to change their ownership model, by ensuring that the new regulator has a transparent process to assess whether a change should go ahead.