Over the next 20 years, Wales faces wetter winters, hotter, drier summers, rising sea levels, and more frequent and intense extreme weather events. The need to achieve decarbonisation, climate resilience, reverse the decline in biodiversity and improve our water quality will require innovative solutions, behaviour change, and long-term investment in our water infrastructure.

The onus is on all of us to act. A team Wales approach is required to deliver at scale and pace to realise our ambitions for nature and the climate, and we must each understand our role for delivery. A thriving water environment is essential for supporting healthy communities, flourishing businesses and biodiversity. To enable this, we need to reduce the pressure on our water environment, for example, the nutrient pollution. Currently over 60 per cent of our most precious rivers are failing phosphate targets. While this is having a direct impact on wildlife and habitat, this is also constraining our ability to build the low-carbon homes our communities need at the pace required.

In July last year, the First Minister convened a summit where organisations pledged to work together to develop solutions to address phosphorus pollution. Since then, nutrient management boards have been established, for which we have been providing funding support of up to £415,000. A database of mitigation measures has been produced and is currently being considered by members of the special areas of conservation rivers oversight group. Carmarthenshire County Council have developed a nutrient calculator. We will work with Carmarthenshire, Natural Resources Wales and other local authorities to develop a national nutrient calculator that can be adapted for use across Wales. A task and finish group has been set up to consider the feasibility of short-term measures and will report back in spring 2023. A catchment consenting proposal has been developed and is being considered by Natural Resources Wales. A catchment market model project has been established and is working on a pilot trial in the Usk. And we have identified appropriate nature-based solutions and will begin to explore their suitability in specific catchments.

A follow-up summit will be hosted in February to drive progress, and we will publish an action plan to reduce nutrient concentrations and develop a suite of measures to enable sustainable development to meet the needs of the people and communities of Wales.

NRW undertake a multimillion-pound programme of capital works, funded by Welsh Government, to address the multiple challenges facing Welsh rivers, including impacts on water quality. The key pressures on the water environment come from physical modifications or man-made changes to the natural habitat; pollution from sewage and wastewater; pollution from towns, cities and transport; pollution from rural areas; and pollution from mines. The capital programme includes projects to address the decline in salmon and sea trout stocks, restore characteristic river habitat for multiple benefits, including water quality, plus contribute to the well-being of people. 

I am very keen to maximise investment and funding, and would encourage organisations to work together. Earlier this year, I published our strategic priorities and objectives statement to Ofwat, which provides the framework for water companies to support our strategic objectives. Focusing on the climate and nature emergencies, environmental improvements, resilience, asset health and customers and communities, it is essential that water company investment plays a part in driving down pollution.

There is no single measure that will solve this crisis and there is no quick fix. For example, tackling storm overflows is one of the many elements that need to be addressed if we are to improve river quality in Wales. The water companies have been working over several years to improve poorly performing assets. This includes improving monitoring to identify where further action is required and prioritising action to address environmental harm and impact.

Multimillion-pound investment will be required over the next few years to recognise our ambitions, and I am keen to ensure every penny of investment delivers for customers, communities and the environment whilst avoiding creating or exacerbating inequality. However, we all have our part to play. Flushing just a single wet wipe is enough to start a blockage and risks causing catastrophic flooding in homes, resulting in significant distress and cost. Every time we pave over a driveway or a garden, we are adding to the pressures on our drainage networks.

Our programme for government commits to improving water quality, which can only be done if we have full engagement and a team Wales approach, where Government, regulators and all relevant sectors work together over the immediate, intermediate and medium term to realise long-term results to improve water quality.

The number of people participating in water-related recreational activities such as open-water swimming has increased dramatically over the last couple of years. In Wales, the number of designated bathing waters has also increased, but I am keen to get people’s views on what more we can do to encourage this via an inland water swimmers survey and an inland water landowner survey in early 2023. We have identified five inland waters that we would like to use to pilot a new approach to bathing waters next year, and I look forward to seeing the outcomes of this work as we move towards designating inland waters.  

In May this year we commissioned an independent report to undertake a post-implementation review of the sustainable drainage systems regime in Wales. I am expecting this report in spring 2023 and will use this to identify policy options to ensure that SuDS schemes not only fulfil their role of slowing down the flow of surface water, but also provide wildlife habits. Increasing SuDS features across Wales will result in increased opportunities for wildlife, contributing to our biodiversity targets.

We are investing £3.1 million in our three-year—. Sorry, I'll put my teeth back in. We are investing £3.1 million in our three-year natural flood management pilot programme, which was designed to help us understand how natural flood management works and how we can best deliver these types of schemes. This programme contains 15 projects across Wales, which are expected to reduce flood risk to 800 properties on completion. The majority of these projects will also improve water quality.

I am also committed to marine habitat restoration in Wales. This is critical to ensuring the Welsh marine environment remains resilient for future generations. I support critical habitat restoration projects, such as the seagrass project in Wales, and welcome the continued dialogue with Welsh Government, which is crucial to interlace with the delivery of our programme for government commitment.

I've been really clear that we need to take an integrated catchment approach, focusing on multisector co-operation and nature-based solutions to drive water quality improvements. By taking this approach and improving community engagement, we will be better able to take account of local circumstances and priorities. Citizens and local groups can play a key role in helping to tackle water quality pollution through providing monitoring intelligence and public awareness.

I am keen to work with citizen scientists to understand how their work can support and inform a better understanding of the range of impacts on our water environment. All parties must work together and take this team Wales approach to tackle the multiple risks impacting our lakes, rivers and streams and deliver real improvements to the quality of our waterways. I urge all sectors and organisations to work together, to be transparent, open and adaptable, which is the response we need to truly tackle the water quality issues we face across Wales. Diolch.