According to the Government, the situation “demands further bold action to deliver fundamental, long-term reform.”

The briefing says:

“The water system, regulation and the regulators have failed customers and the environment. In the 37 years since privatisation the population has grown by 11 million, climate change and aging infrastructure has created unprecedented demands on the water system and reform is now needed. This has been compounded by a failure of regulation, with a system that relied too heavily on water companies marking their own homework.”

It explains that the once-in-a-generation Bill will “shift the sector away from a system where water companies mark their own homework” by putting in place stronger, active supervision and oversight through a powerful new regulator. Alongside the Bill, the Government is also taking forward non-legislative reforms to end the era of Operator Self-Monitoring.

Key features outlined in the briefing include:

Putting consumers firmly first with a new Water Ombudsman to ensure complaints are taken seriously and resolved quickly, strengthening consumer advocacy and providing stronger customer protections.

Delivering cleaner rivers, lakes, and seas by providing the legislative tools to ensure targets are ambitious, enabling pre-pipe solutions like sustainable drainage systems to reduce spills and consolidating and strengthening agricultural pollution rules.

Unlocking economic growth and housing delivery through reforms to the New Appointments and Variations framework, which enables new water and wastewater companies to be appointed for new developments.

Strengthening the financial resilience and long-term stability of the sector through a modernised economic regulation regime including the new regulator taking a supervisory approach to improve oversight and establishing a Performance Improvement Regime to ensure earlier intervention for poorly performing water companies.

Building long-term resilience into the water system through statutory resilience standards and better asset mapping. The reforms will be underpinned by clearer long-term planning and strengthened strategic guidance.This will be backed by stronger powers for the regulator to enforce security, including no-notice inspections to ensure realistic testing of security measures.

Boosting water efficiency and secure future supplies by accelerating the use of smart metering to enable customers to identify leaks, reduce water wastage, and realise bill savings; all while encouraging the uptake of water‑efficient appliances through the forthcoming water efficiency labelling scheme.

Creating a stable, long-term planning framework by consolidating existing water industry planning into two core planning frameworks and exploring establishing national water targets. This would give companies, investors, and regulators clear five, 10, and 25 year direction and the potential to reduce duplication and unnecessary administrative burden where planning and reporting are streamlined.

The scope of the Bill will extend and apply to England and Wales, with some measures also expected to apply to Scotland.