Overview

• Water company executives now face up to two years in prison for covering up illegal sewage spills under newly implemented laws.
• The Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 allows regulators to ban bonuses for executives who fail to meet environmental standards.
• The legislation mandates real-time monitoring at every emergency sewage outlet to improve oversight and transparency.
• Only three individuals have been prosecuted for obstructing sewage investigations since 2019, none of whom were fined or jailed.
• Campaigners and watchdogs continue pushing for broader reforms, including the potential nationalization of water companies and restructuring of regulators.