Interim Water Commission: cleaning up water industry will “take more than a hose down”

EMBARGO: Immediate Release

Responding to Sir John Cunliffe’s interim water commission report, Tim Farron MP, Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson, said:

“This report makes it painfully clear that water companies can pollute and make profit with impunity - all at customers' expense. At the heart of the sewage scandal is a regulatory system which has failed.

“It's going to take more than a hose down to clean up the water industry. It’s time for Ofwat to go and the Commission must now make this plain.

“If Ofwat remains in name or nature, the government will have failed in their aims to improve our waterways and address public outrage with serious regulatory reform.

“Liberal Democrats will continue our campaign to replace Ofwat with a new regulator to clean up our waterways for good."

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

Please find relevant links to the interim water commission report here:

Press release: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/independent-water-commission-publishes-interim-findings 

Report: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-water-commission-review-of-the-water-sector