SWW to spend £2.5bn as part of environmental plan

South West Water (SWW) plans to almost double its investment in the environment to £2.5bn between 2025 and 2030, according to the Environment Agency (EA).

The EA said the agreed action was "the largest ever commitment" from water companies to clean up the environment and invest in new infrastructure since privatisation.

It said work would include SWW reducing the amount of water taken from the River Camel in Cornwall.

EA chairman Alan Lovell said the investment represented a "vital step forward towards clean, safe, and abundant water", while SWW said the work would help improve river quality.

The Water Industry National Environment Programme sets out more than 24,000 actions water companies must take over the next five years to meet their legal requirements.

SWW's investment plan includes £764m to reduce storm overflow spills, £150m to prevent nutrient pollution and £3m to improve biodiversity and conservation, the EA said.

Mr Lovell said the EA would work with the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and watchdog Ofwat "to monitor water company progress and ensure they deliver what has been promised".

"If water companies fail to carry out their legal obligations to the environment, we will take action," he said.

SWW abstracts water from the De Lank River, in the River Camel catchment, to supply clean drinking water to homes and businesses.

It said it would reduce the water it abstracts by 31 March 2030, "easing pressure on this highly valued river system".

SWW had also agreed to stop abstraction and remove an associated weir within Dendles Wood National Nature Reserve, said the EA.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed said: "It is no secret that our water system needs fixing and that our rivers, lakes and seas are choked by pollution.

"Customers deserve the money they pay in bills to go towards improving the service they receive, and that is why the government will ringfence money earmarked for investment, so it can only be spent on projects like these."

SWW director of asset management Mark Worsfold said the programme was the largest it had ever invested in.

"This will see improvements in water resources, natural resources and river water quality improvements across the river network," he said.

"Our storm overflow programme is focussed around improvements in our coasts and estuaries delivering benefits to all bathing waters and shellfish areas by 2030, five years ahead of the government requirements for bathing waters."

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