Fourth Report - Water quality in rivers
Select Committee
Environmental Audit Committee
HC 74
13 January 2022
Government Response (AI assessment · 82 of 82 classified)
Accepted
22
Acknowledged
29
Deferred
11
Rejected
3
Government response
First Special Report - Water quality in rivers: Government Response to the Committee’s Fourth Report of Session 2021–22 · published 16 May 2022
Recommendations & Conclusions
3 results
19
Recommendation
Rejected
Para 127
We recommend that the Environment Agency work with DEFRA to intensify its work in the...
Recommendation
We recommend that the Environment Agency work with DEFRA to intensify its work in the inspection and, where necessary, remediation of large animal slurry stores. Where remediation is required, funding from the Slurry Investment Fund should be made available to …
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Government Response Summary
The government does not accept the recommendation, and states that the Environment Act requires notification of spills occurring within 1 hour of the discharge and continuous monitoring of the environment.
37
Conclusion
Rejected
Para 203
We have identified multiple potential points of failure in the regulatory arrangements for monitoring, governance...
Conclusion
We have identified multiple potential points of failure in the regulatory arrangements for monitoring, governance and enforcement of water quality. The Southern Water case has given rise to obvious and urgent questions about the system of operator self- monitoring and …
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Government Response Summary
The government does not agree that permitting is an appropriate response for highway drains, stating it would add an unjustified regulatory and resource burden, but will keep the need for different approaches under review.
60
Recommendation
Rejected
Para 290
We are disappointed by the apparent lack of regulatory oversight of the risks of water...
Recommendation
We are disappointed by the apparent lack of regulatory oversight of the risks of water pollution from road run-off. We therefore recommend that the Environment Agency require discharge permits for all outfalls on roads with annual average daily traffic above …
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Government Response Summary
The government does not agree that permitting is normally an appropriate risk management response for highway drains and that it would add a regulatory and resource burden which is not justified.