Cunliffe takes UK water reform to the world congress as England’s reservoirs strain

Sir Jon Cunliffe, who chaired the Independent Water Commission, set out the reform of the UK water sector to the IWA World Water Congress in Glasgow on 5 October, followed by an international panel discussion.

For an international audience, his appearance offered a view of one of the most significant regulatory overhauls in the water world: a privately owned sector in England that the government plans to place under a new, single regulator.

What the commission recommended

The commission’s final report, published on 21 July 2025, made 88 recommendations. At its centre was a new integrated regulator for England, combining Ofwat’s economic regulation with the water functions of the Environment Agency, the Drinking Water Inspectorate and Natural England. In Wales, it proposed integrating water regulation into the existing environmental framework.

The report also called for a national water strategy and for regional water-system planning bodies in England — with a national system planner in Wales — that would plan across company boundaries for supply, demand, leakage, drainage, flood risk and the environment. It proposed a more supervisory style of regulation, monitoring companies continuously on financial resilience, asset condition, governance and investment delivery so that problems are caught before they become failures. It did not propose nationalisation as its main remedy, instead recommending tighter scrutiny of ownership, boards, financial structures and dividends.

What the government is doing

The government responded with a white paper, “A New Vision for Water”, on 20 January 2026. It confirms that Ofwat will be abolished and replaced by a single regulator bringing together the water functions of Ofwat, the Environment Agency, the Drinking Water Inspectorate and Natural England. A Water Transition Plan is due in 2026, and a Water Reform Bill is to follow during the current Parliament.

There is no firm date for the new regulator to start. Until it does, Ofwat continues: its chair has been reappointed until the new body is established, or 30 June 2029 at the latest. The white paper also promises a Water Ombudsman with legally binding powers to settle customer complaints, a wider rollout of smart water meters and mandatory water-efficiency labels on appliances, which the government expects to save households more than £125 million on water and energy bills over the next decade.

Much is still to be settled in legislation, including the new regulator’s statutory duties and powers and how the cost of investment will be shared between bill payers and taxpayers.

A drought backdrop

The reforms are being debated with England in drought. In its latest weekly report, for 25 September to 1 October, the Environment Agency said 10 of its areas were in drought status and the rest in prolonged dry weather. In August the government said almost three-quarters of England was in drought, and the Environment Agency has estimated that the country needs around 120% of average rainfall over the next seven months to recover by spring — pressure that sharpens questions about investment, resilience and how a new regulator will balance bills against long-term supply.

Reported from the IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition, Glasgow, 5 October 2026.

Written with AI assistance from IWA’s published accounts and the cited sources; the session facts were confirmed to The Stratawire at the congress. The illustration is AI-generated and is not a photograph of the event.