In its final report published last summer, UK Government’s Independent Water Commission set out a series of 88 wide-ranging recommendations aimed at reshaping the water sector and our management of the water environment more generally. Having initially accepted five of the Commission’s recommendations, Government said a fuller response would come in the form of a Water White Paper. 

The White Water Paper sets out their plan to implement the Commission’s recommendations

Last week, Government published that White Paper, setting out how they plan to implement those five recommendations, and others, as part of a ‘once-in-a-generation plan to transform the water system for good’.  

Critics have said that the plan is in reality more of a rough to-do list, and admittedly on many aspects there is a lack of flesh on these bones, but it does provide us with a useful skeleton to build from. The paper points us towards a range of changes that will come, through future legislation, instruction from ministers and other routes.  

The paper has a focus on water companies

Given the level of public interest in the sector, this focus is understandable. The paper sets out more detail on changes to rationalise complex water industry business planning, create a single water regulator, and to put in place a more responsive regulatory approach that will find and fix problems faster.   

There will be a new regime for improving the performance of poorly-performing water companies, and a Chief Engineer in the new regulator to provide a focus on infrastructure health.  

The overarching aim is for wholescale changes that ensure better outcomes, delivering “safe and secure supplies of water, a protected and enhanced environment, a fair deal for customers and investors”.  

This sounds positive, but what does a ‘protected and enhanced environment’ actually mean for nature? From the press release and executive summary, nature doesn’t at first feel very central to the changes proposed through the White Paper, but there are important commitments (as well as some areas of risk) buried in the pages that follow.    

The ‘glass half-full’ view

Recognition of the need for joined-up plans across sectors

The paper rightly mentions the need for joined-up plans across sectors like the water industry, agriculture, transport and development. This is vital, as nature doesn’t care where pollution is coming from - it just needs it to be fixed. A regulator that looks at all sectors, and a set of plans that consider all issues, offer the best chance of tackling pollution, managing water sustainably and helping species recover.  

Government is aware that chalk streams cannot be ignored

This is the latest Government publication that explicitly mentions chalk streams, with the White Paper promising that the reforms will ‘further embed action’ to improve them. Whilst each document brings only small policy shifts, together they show that Government is aware – thanks to the constant efforts of environmental organisations, MPs and Peers – that the conservation and restoration of chalk streams cannot be ignored. 

We hope that that the upcoming Water Transition Plan promised by the Government will set out exactly what further action will look like. We'd like that to include more ambitious targets, a commitment to ending harmful abstraction from chalk streams, and dedicated funding for habitat restoration.

In theory, we should see stronger targets

Government says it will explore ‘setting new ambitious targets for the water environment’. It would be disingenuous at best if existing targets were replaced with something weaker, so this should in theory be a positive shift. 

It could, for example, see greater focus on small streams that house so much of our freshwater biodiversity, set a goal to achieve higher standards for some of our most important wildlife sites, or introduce thresholds for currently-overlooked chemical pollutants. However, we’ll be wary of flexibilities that could allow protections to be weakened through the back door. 

The ‘glass half-empty’ view

Risk that nature will be overlooked in decision-making for health and economy

Some mentions of improving the environment don’t have nature at their core. The focus may be around reducing risks to human health, such as for swimmers or for drinking water supplies, or even about ensuring that the environment is able to supply water to service Government’s economic growth mission. 

These outcomes are not mutually exclusive, but there is a risk that nature will be overlooked in the decision-making for health- and economy-focussed objectives. 

Regional planning is welcome - but must work with nature strategies

There’s no indication of how a proposed new regional planning approach will interact with Local Nature Recovery Strategies – a key mechanism for delivering nature’s recovery across England. We welcome the proposals for regional planning, ensuring a stronger role for local voices and finding ways to deliver outcomes more effectively, but these plans must work alongside, rather than ignore, nature strategies.  

The paper misses a big opportunity to join up action for water and nature

It recognises that cleaning up our waters also delivers co-benefits for other priority areas like biodiversity, and so can contribute to meeting targets set out in Government’s Environmental Improvement Plan. But it does not include any core proposals that would meet this remit. Nature-rich river corridors would seem an obvious fit here, delivering habitat for threatened species and connecting up isolated sites along river corridors to create large swathes of land in recovery for nature. A target for the area of land made wilder along riverbanks would be a welcome addition to a future Water Bill.  

Nature, wildlife and species have few mentions

Compared to 47 mentions for investors, and a whole chapter dedicated to customers, there are only sparse mentions of nature, wildlife and species. Salmon, water vole, beaver and other residents of our rivers and lakes do not feature at all. 

Where nature is prevalent, it is in relation to the support expressed for using nature-based solutions - for example, using sustainable drainage features to keep rainwater out of sewers, preventing the sewage spills that will otherwise occur when the system becomes overwhelmed. Such features not only benefit nature by preventing pollution, but can be nature-rich themselves, if designed well, so nature should be factored in from the outset.  

We need to see more detail on addressing agricultural pollution

Beyond the welcome mention of joined up planning across sectors, there could be more detail on addressing agricultural pollution - a threat to rivers which has been overlooked by successive governments. We won't restore our freshwaters to health if animal waste and pesticide run-off continue to damage catchments across the country. Meaningful action to reduce all forms of pollution, not just sewage, is a must. 

The promise in the Water White Paper to act on sewage sludge and pollution from intensive cattle farming is a start, which we need to see swift and comprehensive follow-up on.  

The White Paper is an unfinished manuscript – we’ll be working to try to ensure Ministers go further

In all, the White Paper provides a direction of travel that reflects a lot of what environmental NGOs have raised with Government throughout this process. But it is not yet the needed long-term, multi-sector approach that: 

1. considers all pressures facing our waters, and
2. prioritises the actions needed to help them recover.

It is no blank plage, but rather an unfinished manuscript.  

Happily, this is the middle stage of a process and we have the chance to up the Government’s ambitions for nature.  

The Wildlife Trusts will engage in full with the White Paper and the promised Transition Plan, and will input into plans for a Water Reform Bill later this year which will bring key recommendations into law.  

The Wildlife Trusts will be working hard over the months ahead to persuade Ministers to go further than the White Paper proposals, and to turn their unfinished work into a masterpiece, from which freshwater recovery can flourish.