News

Commitment to water industry apprentices

National Apprenticeship Week 2014 Water companies are fully committed to apprenticeship schemes for young people to help launch their careers, and almost 200 places have been offered within the companies every year since 2008.

Drinking water pipes excluded for broadband

The European Commission has agreed not to put drinking water quality at risk by using underground supply pipes for broadband. This decision supports the UK position, led by Water UK and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and backed by water companies and authorities across Europe.

Water Bill – progress and briefings

The Water Bill is nearing completion after being considered by both houses in Parliament. Water UK has expressed its support for a retail market in water and for measures in the Bill to improve the resilience of water supplies.

Water companies’ short and long term responses to the floods

Companies worked around the clock alongside the Environment Agency, local authorities and other emergency services to help minimise the impacts of the floods on drinking water and sewerage services.

Water companies’ roles in the emergency response to the floods

Water companies are working around the clock alongside the Environment Agency, local authorities and other emergency services to help minimise the impacts of the floods on drinking water and sewerage services.

Water and sewerage bills for 2014-15

Water companies are set to complete a five-year investment programme worth £25 billion, while keeping rises in the average household water and sewerage bill below inflation in 2014-15.

New ways of helping hard-pressed customers

Water companies are broadening the scope of the support they are offering for hard-pressed customers to pay their water bills and manage their overall debt.

European Commission principles on shale gas

The European Commission has published a series of "common minimum principles" for Member States on the extraction of shale gas using hydraulic fracturing (fracking). The principles lay down areas where Member States should focus national requirements in their planning and environmental requirements. They do not indicate any support or otherwise for the recovery of shale gas.

Water and sewerage bills for 2014-15

Water companies are set to complete a five-year investment programme worth £25 billion, while keeping rises in the average household water and sewerage bill below inflation in 2014-15. In November 2009, a five-year package of investment and prices was finalised and April 2014 sees the final year of that package.

A true measure of leakage

Leakage is affected by the weather, especially in cold winters, and so may rise or fall from one year to the next. Nevertheless the overall trend in leakage in England and Wales over the past ten years has been continuously downward.

How water companies measure leakage

Neither the UK water companies nor the industry regulators use percentage of total supply as a measure of leakage performance, as it is almost always misleading.

Shale gas and environmental legislation

In October, MEPs narrowly agreed to support proposals to amend the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive to include shale gas projects

HBF and Water UK publish building protocol

Water UK and the Home Builders Federation (HBF) have agreed a protocol regarding water infrastructure in contaminated land.

Strategy to address marine pollution

The effects of marine litter on fragile and irreplaceable ecosystems can be catastrophic, killing birds, fish and shellfish and choking plant life.

Public urged to prepare homes against the ‘big thaw’

Water UK response to Government's Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan

Response to the Environment Agency’s annual report on environmental performance

‘Fine to Flush’ standard celebrates 100th accreditation

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