New legislation gives regulators more powers to tackle water pollution in England and Wales.
Water company bosses could be banned from receiving bonuses and even sent to prison under new government legislation to combat pollution.
But some campaigners for cleaner waters have criticised the new legislation, with one telling BBC News it amounted only to “window dressing”. The burden of proof in civil cases will be lowered so that the Environment Agency can more easily bring forward criminal charges against bosses. “If the secretary of state believes that the few one-off actions announced today, such as curtailing bosses' bonuses however appealing they may sound are going to fix the underlying causes of our poisoned waterways, then he needs to think again,” Charles Watson of River Action said.
Responding to the new legislation a spokesman for Water UK, which represents the water companies, said it agreed the system was “not working”.
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