, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
Mark.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
Yes. Yes, we can hear you.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
You're muted again now, Huw. I don't know, you're flickering on and off, so maybe try again. Try again. Oh. Yes, you're still there. Go on. Try again, then, Huw. You're unmuted now.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
Huw just wants to come in as well on this.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
Before Mark comes in, that was exactly the point I was going to make. To what extent is—? How far down that chain do you go in terms of investigating incidents? To what extent is that dictated by your capacity to pursue all of those?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
Janet mentioned there low-level pollution, and I know there'll be questions asked of NRW about the threshold and how you decide what's a priority, what's not a priority, and how low is low level, et cetera. Where are we on that? It is a cause of concern for…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
Janet, sorry, Gwenllian wants to come in as well.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
Sorry, Janet—before you go on, I think Siân wanted to come in, just on this as well.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
David.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
Who wants to respond to that? Mark first of all.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
Thank you, Jenny. Okay, we'll move on to Janet then.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
Hang on, Jenny, David wants to come back in.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
There we are, you're right now.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
Mark can come in here.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
Yes, okay, thank you for that. Jenny Rathbone.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
Okay. Did you want to pick up on something else, Mark? Sorry, I allowed Joyce to come in.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
Joyce, did you want to come in here? Sorry, I wasn't sure whether you indicated, or Mark wants—. Let Joyce come in first and maybe Mark can pick up on that as well.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
Yes, and you need to strike a balance between investment in infrastructure and profit generation for some companies too. That's a different discussion, but there we are, that is something that I'm sure we'll come to.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
Would it make NRWs life—well, not easier, that sounds a little flippant, but would it make your work more effective and efficient and clearer if there was a stronger framework in place so that you could be clear on what parameters were acceptable?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
Do we need law to limit this?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
What is the acceptable level? I'm sure it depends on sensitivities locally, but if there is somewhere that is less sensitive, is it as simple as saying that you allow more overflows?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
Okay, thank you, Delyth. And we'll come to some of those details as we make progress in terms of monitoring and what's already in place. But if we can just take a few steps back and look at the process of permitting combined storm overflows and allowing those…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Water quality and sewage discharges - evidence session 1
We'll move to our second item, and of course today we are looking at water quality and sewage discharges. For the first evidence session we have witnesses from Ofwat and Natural Resources Wales. Welcome to you, David Black, interim chief executive of Ofwat…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Introductions, apologies, substitutions, and declarations of interest
Right. You will be aware if I do lose contact for any reason that Delyth Jewell will step in to chair whilst I try and resolve any technical difficulties that may arise.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Introductions, apologies, substitutions, and declarations of interest
There we are. Well, we're all species champions here, so I suppose we should all acknowledge the fact that that's the case. Okay. Diolch yn fawr.
