Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords]

Ann Davies Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 16th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ann Davies (Caerfyrddin) (PC)]

Diolch, Madam Dirprwy Lefarydd. With deteriorating water standards while customers pay higher and higher bills, the water sector’s overhaul is no doubt overdue. Tougher restrictions on water companies that have paid eye-watering bonuses as untreated sewage flows into our rivers are welcomed. We have heard numbers from various constituencies, but listen to this, bois: my constituency of Caerfyrddin saw the most sewage dumped in 2023, with over 11,000 dumps lasting over 115,000 hours. Good reporting may be a factor, but the track record of not-for-profit Dŵr Cymru is not fantastic: it was fined £40 million for misleading over poor performance, while Ofwat had to block £163,000 of undeserved customer-funded bonuses, so further regulation is necessary and overdue.

However, I have some concerns regarding the Bill. First, River Action and Surfers Against Sewage have highlighted Ofwat’s continued duty to make reasonable returns for water companies, prioritising profit over environmental and public health. Profit-wise, Storm Darragh clearly showed in west Wales that supply becomes an issue when power is lost. Therefore, infrastructure investment is sorely needed.

Secondly, the extension of storm overflow monitoring to cover emergency overflows is a good idea in principle, but to make a real difference we must move away from unreliable and limited event-duration monitors to a better monitoring model that provides more insightful data on volume and discharge type. Some of those are already in motion. The Teifi nutrient monitoring project uses high-frequency monitoring sensors and multi-sondes along the Teifi river. Supported by citizen science, data is collected four times a day, tracking pollution and identifying sources, which will guide action plans for the Teifi, Tywi and Cleddau rivers. When I was a county councillor on Carmarthenshire county council, I was delighted to be part of the nutrient management team putting those sonde monitors into the river and promoting nature-based solutions.

Plaid Cymru believes that Wales should have full control over its water resources. Much of the Bill’s provisions are already devolved matters, subject to Senedd consent. According to a recent statement, Labour Senedd Members believe that it is in the “best interest of Wales” for the UK Parliament sometimes to legislate in devolved areas, including where that enables policy objectives to be most effectively achieved. The sanctity of Welsh devolution should never be vulnerable to the whims of any London party politics, and that Labour policy does cause long-term concern.

The aims of the Bill are welcome, and the current scandal of water quality must be resolved. However, we need to ensure that the Bill adequately prioritises environmental and public health without undermining devolution.

[Several hon. Members rose—]