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Water companies have been contributing expertise and perspectives to inform the debate on the future of water, in partnership with all the sector's stakeholders. No one organisation has all the answers, so Water UK is hosting a marketplace of ideas, where water companies have been setting out their thoughts.

The Water UK Innovation Hub earlier this month brought together water companies, regulators and stakeholders to share insights, best practice and new ways to collaborate on tackling consumer vulnerability.

So that water companies can benchmark themselves against each other, they collate and share historic information about their operations, investment and performance.

The latest results for compliance to the European Bathing Water Directive by UK coastal and inland bathing waters show that:
• 95.4% of UK bathing waters met the minimum standard - that is 595 out of 624 bathing waters
• 60% of bathing waters met the Directive’s excellent standard

The second quarterly report of developer service standards shows water companies have improved on their overall levels of delivery and performance. The second quarterly figures for water supply have risen from 89% to 93% in response to 125,000 developer requests. For sewerage they are up from 94% to 97% - in response to 9,000 developer requests.

Customers’ number one priority for the water industry is safe, reliable supplies of water at a price they can afford. To deliver this, it’s critically important that the water industry plans for the long term, because decisions and investments made today will determine the level of service that the industry can provide well into the future.

On Wednesday 14 October 2015 the National Audit Office published its review of regulation and the water industry. The water industry has worked closely with the NAO over many months and provided a range of figures and information to assist their review of regulation in the sector.

Water UK, through Eureau, is joining a three-year European Commission work programme to develop a best available technology reference document for oil and gas, which will take full consideration of environmental protection. Over the past four years, Water UK's positioning has focused on ensuring that if shale gas developments are to take place, they can do so with the water utility fully involved and with water and wastewater concerns addressed from the outset.

It was encouraging this month to note that tap water’s important role toward improving public health has been highlighted by two key institutions. The European Parliament, in its resolution following the Right2Water initiative, called on the Commission to do more to promote tap water. In the UK, the recent draft programme for the All Party Parliamentary Water Group held a space for Water and Public Health discussions.

Water UK welcomes the Government proposals to amend the scope of the permitted development rights for the drilling of boreholes associated with groundwater monitoring needs for petroleum exploration.

The public drinking water supply is the cornerstone of our public health.