This weekend, Langland Board Riders (LBR) and Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) team up once again to host the Toxic Trophy at Langland Bay, Swansea.

It's guaranteed to be a fantastic surf competition, but the historic event also draws attention to the polluted state of our nation's seas and waterways.

We recently spoke to Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water to understand what they are doing to improve water cleanliness for water users across Wales.

Q) In light of recent poor performance by Welsh Water, how can the public trust that Welsh Water is doing all it can to achieve the goals set out on the Welsh Water website?

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water:

As a company, we take our responsibility for protecting bathing waters seriously and in the decade to 2025 alone we will have invested over £1.4 billion in our wastewater system. Over the past 20 years, our investment has helped ensure that Wales’ amazing coastline is blessed with a quarter of the UK’s Blue Flag beaches despite having just 15% of its coastline. 

We are proud that the latest Bathing Water results for Wales also showed that 98% of the designated bathing waters meet stringent quality standards – with almost three quarters of them meeting the highest ‘Excellent’ water quality standard. 

There are a number of contributing factors that impact on bathing and river water quality more generally. These include agricultural run-off and animal faeces, urban surface water drainage, poorly maintained private septic tanks and misconnected drains. We are committed to working closely with regulators and other sectors to ensure we do all we can to protect the environment.

Q) As climate change increases the likelihood of extreme weather events such as flooding and drought, how is Welsh Water planning for future climate pressures in order to mitigate serious pollution incidents?

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water:

We are planning our most ambitious investment period (AMP8, 2025-30) – with plans to invest £4bn, including £2.5bn on environmental projects, subject to approval from Ofwat.

These projects include continuing to upgrade and future proof our systems to better cope with the changing environment. This work has already begun with current investment projects including a green alternative to a storm overflow and more storm storage at numerous sites.

Q) Given Welsh Water’s non-for-profit status, Welsh Government has suggested there is ambiguity over bonuses awarded to executives. What is Welsh Water doing to promote accountability, and how can public trust that adequate measures are being carried out?

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water: 

As we have no shareholders, our independent Members provide the same vital governance role holding the Board to account. Unpaid and with a deep interest in the services we are here to provide, they come from a wide range of backgrounds with extensive and relevant knowledge and expertise and are appointed by an Independent Selection Panel.

They challenge robustly the Board and Executive Team on our performance unencumbered by any financial self-interest that may be the case in shareholder owned companies.

We adhere to the UK Corporate Governance Code exactly as if we were a listed company and expect, and get, the same robust challenge and scrutiny as would come from shareholders when performance isn’t where we want it to be. It is not just by Members that we are scrutinised and challenged, but by customers, regulators and elected members, as has been the case in recent months.

Our executive remuneration is set by the company’s Remuneration Committee which comprises only independent non-executive directors. It is then approved by the company’s independent Members in the same way as a listed company’s shareholders approve executive remuneration.

The key principle is to ensure that remuneration is reasonable, fair and competitive and also helps us attract and retain high-calibre employees – without ever being excessive and is dependent on performance that benefits our customers.

Note:

Langland Bay has achieved excellent bathing water status for the past decade.

Storm overflows (SOs) work in a similar way to the overflow in your sink or bath and are essential to prevent wastewater backing up into people’s homes and businesses during heavy rainfall.