Water Restoration Fund: Rivers
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of the fines levied against water companies since October 2023 a) has been b) is going to be reinvested into river restoration projects; and if she will put mechanisms in place to publicly track i) where and ii) how much fine monies are spent on river restoration.
Answered by Emma Hardy
On 20 January 2026, Government announced alongside the White Paper that the next tranche of £29 million in water company fines will support further local water improvement projects through catchment partnerships, the Water Environment Improvement Fund (WEIF) and Water and Abandoned Metal Mines (WAMM) Programme.
Catchment partnerships are currently submitting funding applications for approved projects within the WEIF programme, and successful projects will be announced in due course, whilst details of WAMM schemes are available at: Water and Abandoned Metal Mines Programme.
This constitutes all fines received between October 2023 and October 2025, excluding any enforcement undertakings agreed by regulators. Government will confirm how any future income from fines and penalties will be spent in due course, after the balance has been paid.
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