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Ofwat to be abolished
New regulator will ‘cut water pollution in England’s rivers, lakes & seas, & protect families from massive bill hikes’.
23 July 2025
Main image: Monitoring of the River Wye, a protected area currently facing a pollution crisis linked to industrial farming, was among the work affected by cuts
England’s environmental watchdog has dropped 10,000 water quality tests from its work to ensure the health of England’s rivers and lakes over the past three months, due to staff shortages at the regulator’s main lab.
The Environment Agency (EA) took a last-minute decision to pause or cancel the tests in spring, a joint investigation by Unearthed and DeSmog has found.
A senior manager at the environmental regulator emailed colleagues in late March to say the plan was to pause ‘inorganic’ water quality testing in its ‘entirety’ for 10 national programmes, according to documents obtained under freedom of information laws. A further five programmes faced a partial pause.
This pause, which has run from May into July, has hit programmes including those that track chemical pollution in rivers, lakes and estuaries, and another that monitors the regulator’s local responses to drought.
While this testing has been on hold, five English regions have officially gone into drought, after the ‘driest spring in 132 years’.
Documents show that the work affected by cuts included investigations into the water industry in various parts of the country, as well as monitoring of protected areas like the River Wye, which is currently facing a pollution crisis linked to industrial farming.
The news comes after environment secretary Steve Reed announced that Ofwat will be abolished and a new water regulator will take over the water-related duties of the EA and Natural England, as well as the responsibilities of Ofwat and the Drinking Water Inspectorate.
‘The tests that have been paused for months are vital to manage drought, protect wildlife and hold polluters to account, whether it’s water firms dumping sewage or chicken farms releasing manure. Without adequate water tests, we’re flying blind through a storm.
‘Listening to the environment secretary talking tough about river pollution, you’d think we’d be doing a lot more testing, not less. Merely setting up a new watchdog for the water industry won’t solve the problem. Steve Reed needs to make sure it has the legal powers, resources and expertise to do its job properly.’
DR DOUG PARR
Greenpeace UK’s chief scientist
The sudden cuts came after a ‘significant number’ of staff left the ‘inorganics’ team at the EA’s Starcross laboratory in Devon, with ‘further staff signalling their intention to depart’, according to internal emails.
This is the team responsible for testing EA water samples for compounds like nitrates and phosphates, which are critical measures of the impact of pollutants like sewage, as well as a host of other important water quality tests.
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