1. What steps is the Minister taking to improve biodiversity in the rivers of Wales? OQ58924

I am committed to improving biodiversity in Welsh rivers through tackling poor water quality. This includes reducing phosphate pollution and improving river habitats for migratory fish through the Rivers4Life project. Following the biodiversity deep-dive, I am also working with stakeholders to identify catchment-scale solutions to drive water quality improvements.

Okay, I'd better declare my interest here as the Atlantic salmon champion, but biodiversity in our rivers is intrinsically tied up with issues of pollution, and the causes of pollution in our rivers are myriad, and resolving the problem will require a myriad of co-ordinated approaches, which I'm sure the Minister will want to see taken forward by the Wales better river quality taskforce. Agricultural pollution from nitrates and slurry run-off, combined sewage overflows and Victorian pipework now routinely, daily discharge effluent as we face increasing storm surges, and phosphates from poorly managed construction projects and more. Every river and watercourse is different and every package of solutions must also be different. So, Minister, can I ask you how and when you'll regularly update the Senedd on progress in line with the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2017, but also, and specifically, how you'll work with, and ultimately compel, all stakeholders to play their part in effort and investment in cleaning up our rivers and river catchments, restoring the richness of our biodiversity, including the salmon and the sewin, which two of us here in this Senedd champion?

I should also say, of course, I'm the native oyster champion, which requires good, clean water to be able to thrive as well. It's a very important question, Huw, and thank you for asking it. As you know, the better river quality taskforce has been established to evaluate the current approach to the management and regulation of overflows in Wales and to set out detailed plans to drive rapid change and improvement. The taskforce has Welsh Government, NRW, water companies and industry stakeholders providing independent advice to the taskforce and offering insight. Back in July, they published a storm overflows road map for Wales, setting out clear objectives and measurable outcomes for delivering improvements to overflow management for the immediate through to the longer term. And, as you’ve referenced as well, the three river basin management plans in Wales, which were produced under the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2017, have all now been published, which demonstrates the progress that has been made in improving water quality throughout Wales.

But, there are many reasons why some of our rivers are really failing to meet good status and they are outlined in the plans, along with the actions that need to be taken to reverse the decline. And as you absolutely rightly pointed out, all parties need to play their part. And I am absolutely determined that through fora like the Wales water management forum, the special areas of conservation rivers oversight group and the better river quality taskforce, we will be able to work together to deliver the improvements that we need to see.

In terms of how we can compel them, we all know there’s no single measure that will solve this problem. The First Minister held a summit, as you know, back in the summer, and there’s a follow-up summit happening in February. We asked each sector to stop pointing fingers at the other sectors and to come up with what they, as a sector, would be able to do to solve their part of the problem. Once we know what they are, then we can put in place the measures by which we can ensure that those sectors can indeed do what they’ve accepted and understood that they can do. And then we will have an action plan that I will be regularly updating the Senedd on and on which we can hold people’s feet to the fire—for ourselves and for NRW, but also for every other sector in Wales that’s causing this problem.

Minister, despite making huge strides to clean up our rivers over recent decades, the biggest threat to biodiversity remains pollution. I would like to highlight the particular problem on the River Tawe. Natural Resources Wales has confirmed that the work to stop regular discharge of untreated sewage enter the River Tawe from Trebanos waste water treatment works in south Wales is not likely to be completed until 2030. This is unacceptable, particularly when you consider Welsh Water named the Trebanos works as No.1 on its list of the 50 worst problem sites for the company in Wales. Over recent years, we have seen an annual average of 3,500 hours of untreated sewage discharging into the Tawe from Trebanos. Minister, we cannot wait another seven or eight years for this to be sorted. Will you commit to eliminating untreated sewage discharged into this river as soon as possible? Thank you. 

Yes, thank you. Obviously, we want to get to the point where we don't have untreated sewage going into the rivers. We need an enormous amount of investment not just at the site that you mentioned there, but in sites right across Wales. We're currently in the negotiations with Ofwat and with the UK Government about the price review for water companies in Wales, and, of course, throughout the whole of the UK. That price review will determine the level of investment that they're able to put in, and the acceleration of the programme that we want to see. So, I, in return, would ask you to make sure that you also add your voice to ours from the Welsh Government, to Ofwat, to make sure that the price review includes the ability of a not-for-profit like Dŵr Cymru to be able to invest at the level it would like to invest, because, in the last price review, we had a real problem because the fact that it was not a company limited by shares was not taken into account by Ofwat, and that has had an effect on the ability to invest. 

I absolutely have regular meetings with the water companies, and I absolutely ask them all the time to accelerate their plans, but we are absolutely in the hands of the price review. So, we all need to act together and add our voice to that to make sure that the price mechanism allows the investment that we want to see, and, indeed, not only the investment, but the acceleration of the investment that we'd all like to see.