Future Flood and Water Management Legislation - Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Contents


Written evidence submitted by Anglian Water

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  We would welcome the Committee exploring proposals to amend legislation to:

    — further promote the interests of customers in terms of fair and affordable bills;

    — help address the current problem with water debt and the ability of customers to pay; and

    — reduce the risk of surface water and sewer flooding.

1.  ADDRESSING BAD DEBT AND AFFORDABILITY

  1.1  Currently, water customers pay £12 each to cover the bad debts of customers who choose not to pay their water bills. We believe this to be an unfair burden on paying customers, particularly at a time of economic restraint. We believe that strengthening the sanctions against wilful non-payers, combined with improvements in our ability to collect revenue and a managed approach to cross subsidising those who genuinely cannot pay their bills, would deliver fairer outcomes to all customers.

Right to cease supplying non-payers

  1.2  Our preferred change is for government to restore to water companies the right to cease supplying water to customers who are able but who deliberately choose not to pay their water bills. This right existed until 2000, since when bad debt levels have increased significantly.

Trickle flow devices

  1.3  Trickle-flow devices are used in several countries to manage water debt. They are installed in the properties of non-payers and restrict the flow of water. These encourage bill-payment while continuing to provide a basic flow of water to customers for essential purposes. We believe water companies in England and Wales should be given the option to use these devices.

Landlords' liability

  1.4  The Floods and Water Management Act (FWMA) introduced a requirement for owners of rented residential properties to identify the person liable for the water bill at their property. Firstly, we believe the requirement should be extended to cover all rented properties. Secondly, we continue to believe that landlords themselves should be directly liable for water bills. Thirdly, we support the position of WaterUK in urging the Committee to encourage the bringing forward of the regulations necessary to enact the FWMA requirement.

Pre-payment meters

  1.5  Until their use was determined to be illegal in the late 1990's, pre-payment meters were a popular option with many water customers to help with household budgeting. Their use in rented properties with high tenant turnover would also benefit the broader customer base by addressing the problem of absconding debtors and associated bad debt. We would like to be able to offer them again as a payment option.

Guidance on social tariffs

  1.6  We are in a position to introduce affordable tariffs of the type supported by the Walker Review but Ofwat's view is that it does not have the power to approve them until Ministers issue guidance on social tariffs. Our view differs from Ofwat's but to avoid further delay we urge the introduction of the required guidance at the earliest opportunity.

2.  REDUCING THE RISK OF FLOODING

Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS)

  2.1  We fully support the principles of sustainable drainage. Until SuDS Approval Bodies become established we will continue in our role as facilitators of SuDS by adopting them where they meet the requirements of our policy.

  2.2  The FWMA introduced valuable clarity on the construction, ownership and management of SuDS. However there remains uncertainty about the accountability for flooding or pollution where SuDS connect to a public sewer. We are concerned if we should be held accountable, particularly where SuDS do not perform in accordance with their approval criteria or where we objected to the SuDS based on these criteria, but approval was granted anyway.

Highway drainage

  2.3  Highway Authorities are entitled in law to discharge highway drainage to "any public sewer" by agreement. However, we propose that as part of the solution for dealing with surface water, a highway authority should only be able to discharge highway drainage to a surface water sewer.

  2.4  Furthermore, the Highways Act 1980 gives a highway authority a perpetual right to use a drain or sewer for highway drainage. We propose a power to modify highway drainage which is no longer sustainable or appropriate from an environmental perspective.

Discharges to watercourses

  2.5  We support the restoration of a sewerage undertaker's right to discharge surface water and effluent from public sewers and public lateral drains to a watercourse.

3.  FLOODING FROM SEWERS

Fats, Oils and Greases (FOG)

  3.1  Obstructions and blockages cost Anglian Water over £7 million a year, with heightened risk of sewer flooding. We believe it is unfair for customers to be burdened with this cost and that more stringent rules should be in place, over and above existing legislative powers, to prosecute offenders. Although the law allows a sewerage undertaker to prosecute someone who discharges material likely to block the sewer, invariably a prosecution could only succeed if the sewer has already become blocked or obstructed and quite often it can be difficult to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the obstruction was caused by a discharge from particular premises.

  3.2  Problems are commonly experienced in respect of hot food take-away premises, where a comparatively cheap and easy solution can be to fit and maintain a grease trap. However, a sewerage undertaker has no power to require this to be fitted or maintained. It is suggested, therefore, that as well as the power to prosecute companies should be given a power to require action to be taken, eg to install and maintain a fat trap. This would help to reduce the number of blockages and, consequently, the number of escapes of sewage from the sewerage system.

Unlawful interference with a sewer.

  3.3  Currently the law creates offences in respect of interference with water mains and other pipes belonging to a water undertaker, but interference with a public sewer or other pipe belonging to a sewerage undertaker is not an offence. Whilst in some cases interference with a public sewer may also constitute criminal damage, it would help if there was a specific offence. This would reduce the number of unauthorised diversions which can cause blockages to occur and create other problems to the public sewerage system.

Misconnections

  3.4  We support WaterUK's position that sewerage companies should be given the powers to reconnect drains that have been misconnected to the public sewers so that the risk of flooding is reduced.

4.  OTHER MATTERS

Private sewers

  4.2  The Water Industry Act 1991 requires sewerage undertakers to keep records of all sewers and drains vested in them as "public sewers". However, the Act makes an exception to this requirement in respect of drains and sewers laid before 1 September 1989, when the water and sewerage companies were created and at which point they inherited the records and responsibilities of the former water authorities.

  4.3  The Government recognises that an amendment to primary legislation is necessary to provide the same exemption in respect of mapping private assets that will transfer to water and sewerage companies on 1 October 2011. The drafting of new legislation provides an opportunity to achieve this.

  4.4  We have proposals about a number of further minor amendments to improve the current legislation applying to water management, (for example, to update terminology and reflect developments in communication technology) which we are prepared to share with the Committee or to feed into the bill drafting process at the appropriate stage.

October 2010





 
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