Welsh rivers charity says new Clean Water Bill ‘not enough’ for Wales
The Welsh charity that represents the rivers trust covering the Dee has said the UK Government’s new Clean Water Bill is not enough for Wales.
The Bill was announced in the King’s Speech on 13 May, setting out new water industry rules for England and Wales.
Afonydd Cymru, the umbrella body for the six rivers trusts in Wales, said the Bill lacks ambition and would leave Wales short on the reforms needed to clean up Welsh rivers.
The charity represents the Welsh Dee Trust, which covers the river running through the Deeside patch.
The Dee is a cross-border river already regulated by multiple bodies, with Natural Resources Wales policing the Welsh side and the Environment Agency the English side.
Welsh Water, United Utilities and Hafren Dyfrdwy, a subsidiary of Severn Trent, all operate sewage works in the Dee catchment.
A central point in the charity’s analysis is on economic regulation, the rules governing how much water companies can charge customers and what they have to invest.
That work currently sits with Ofwat, a UK regulator, and under the Bill it will move to a new English integrated regulator combining Ofwat with the water functions of the Environment Agency, Natural England and the Drinking Water Inspectorate.
The Welsh Government wants to set up its own Welsh economic regulator for water, but does not yet have the powers from Westminster to do so.
Afonydd Cymru said the situation means “the economic management of water in Wales will remain under an English regulatory body for the next water company business planning process.”
That process, known as a price review, will cover the period from 2030 to 2035 and will determine bills and investment levels for the whole of that period.
Environmental regulation of Welsh rivers, including the Welsh side of the Dee, will remain with Natural Resources Wales throughout.
The charity also said the Westminster Bill does not match the more detailed proposals set out in the Welsh Government’s own Green Paper, Shaping the Future of Water Governance in Wales, published on 3 February.
That document proposed a separate Welsh economic regulator, tighter rules on land spreading of agricultural and industrial waste, and national systems planning across all sectors affecting water.
The Welsh Government consultation on the Green Paper closed on 7 April, before the Senedd election on 7 May.
Afonydd Cymru said the Plaid Cymru manifesto promised to “work to ensure every water body in Wales achieves a minimum of ‘good’ status” but did not set a timescale.
The charity said the current deadline of 2027, by which all Welsh waters should reach good status under retained European law, “will be well and truly missed”.
Around 60 per cent of Welsh waterbodies are currently not at good status, according to the charity, which added that the figure would be higher if Wales assessed chemicals properly.
Afonydd Cymru said fish species such as salmon and sewin are at risk of extinction in some Welsh rivers within the next five years.
The charity also pressed the new Welsh Government on its manifesto commitment to a European Alignment Act, which would tie Wales to European Union environmental standards.
It said: “Full devolution over water would allow Wales to deliver its additional commitments under its own, specific legislation.”
The charity added that full devolution could also be “the first piece of the puzzle in solving the perennial problem of cross-border river management.”
Afonydd Cymru said Wales already has some of the highest water bills in the United Kingdom and some of the most polluted rivers.
The Clean Water Bill is expected to be introduced to Parliament later this year, with a separate transition plan for the wider water industry due in 2026.
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