Water companies in England and Wales have been given clearance to spend £104bn on
upgrades to accelerate delivery of cleaner rivers and seas and secure long-term drinking water supplies by 2030.
Almost £12bn is allocated to cutting spills from storm overflows by 45% by 2030, from 2021 levels.
There will also be £6bn of upgrades to combat nutrient pollution for around 1,000 sites and catchments, and £3.3bn on nature-based solutions that increase biodiversity.
In total, 30 major infrastructure projects will build greater resilience to drought by providing enough water to meet the daily needs of around a third of England and Wales’ population
Customer’s bills will increase by an average of £31 a year, every year, over the next five years, Ofwat said.
Chief executive David Black said: “Today marks a significant moment. It provides water companies with an opportunity to regain customers’ trust by using this £104bn upgrade to turn around their environmental record and improve services to customers.
“Water companies now need to rise to this challenge, customers will rightly expect them to show they can deliver significant improvement over time to justify the increase in bills. Alongside the step up in investment, we need to see a transformation in companies’ culture and performance. We will monitor and hold companies to account on their investment programmes and improvements.
“We recognise it is a difficult time for many, and we are acutely aware of the impact that bill increases will have for some customers. That is why it is vital that companies are stepping up their support for customers who struggle to pay.
“We have robustly examined all funding requests to make sure they provide value for money and deliver real improvements, while ensuring the sector can attract the levels of investment it needs to meet environmental requirements. This has seen us remove £8bn of unjustified costs compared with companies most recent requests. In addition, our approach to setting a rate of return has saved customers £2.8bn.”
