Latest Water & Floods News

Ofwat calls on water companies to improve long-term water supply plans

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Water companies must improve their plans to secure reliable water services in the coming decades, according to Ofwat.

Each water company has developed draft Water Resource Management Plans (WRMPs) to set out how they ensure water needs are met through to 2050 and protect the environment. Although the draft plans would…

3,200t caisson fitted to Scottish pier as part of upgrade work

Caisson in place at Lochmaddy Pier

Glasgow civils contractor George Leslie has fitted a 3,200t caisson to a pier in Scotland's Outer Hebrides as part of an upgrade project.

The firm fitted the 12m-wide, 12.5m-deep, 33m-long Block Maddy structure to Lochmaddy Pier in North Uist. The concrete caisson was towed from Belfast six months ago for engineers…

Jacobs, Stantec and Turner & Townsend appointed to Northumbrian Water plan

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Jacobs, Stantec and Turner and Townsend (T&T) have all been appointed to Northumbrian Water’s future asset management plan framework.

The three organisations will provide different services for Northumbrian Water’s AMP8 to support asset investment programmes across its water network in Northumbria, Essex and Suffolk. All frameworks will look into improvements that…

Welsh beauty spot reopens after rock stabilisation works

Devil's Gulch repair 2023

A popular beauty spot in central Wales has reopened for the first time since 2018 after a safety project completed early.

The Devil’s Gulch path in the Elan Valley was shut in late 2018 after a rockfall made it too dangerous to walk along. Welsh firm Colin Jones Rock Engineering began…

Thames Water commits record £1.6bn to improve sewage infrastructure

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Thames Water has announced that it will spend £1.6bn in the next two years to improve its sewage infrastructure with the aim of halving its discharges by 2030.

The investment will see upgrades to wastewater treatment plants and sewerage networks, which will reduce storm discharges and pollution incidents. These will help…

Outgoing Environment Agency chief challenges nation to tackle ‘flatlining’ water quality improvements

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Outgoing Environment Agency chief executive Sir James Bevan has warned that the UK’s efforts to improve water quality are “flatlining” and has challenged water companies, farmers, regulators, the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civilians to each play their part in tackling the issue.

Bevan took up the role of Environment Agency…

Plan to transfer treated wastewater into new Portsmouth reservoir questioned

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Campaign groups and the local community in the Portsmouth area are fighting against Southern Water’s plan to transfer treated wastewater into the in-development Havant Thicket reservoir, saying there are more environmentally sensitive solutions to improving the region’s water resilience.

Portsmouth Water's Havant Thicket reservoir in Havant is the UK’s first new…

Green light for flood defence scheme in Worcestershire

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The Environment Agency has been given planning permission to build a £6.2M permanent flood defence scheme in Bewdley, Worestershire, as the town has repeatedly been flooded by the River Severn.

Work on the permanent flood risk management scheme will begin this summer to protect homes and businesses in the town from…