Written question WQ93138

We have committed to providing more than £40 million of additional funding during this Senedd term to address water quality challenges across Wales.

In 2023, 98% of designated bathing waters in Wales met stringent quality standards, with 80 out of 109 achieving the highest classification of ‘excellent’. All bathing waters along the North Wales coastline met these standards, with Prestatyn again achieving an ‘excellent’ classification and receiving a prestigious “Blue Flag” award for 2024.

We are, however, working with partners across Wales to drive further water quality improvement. The Better River Quality Taskforce action plans are available online setting out detailed plans on Storm Overflows to drive rapid change and improvement. The 2023 final Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans for Welsh water companies have recently been published and are available on their respective websites. We were pleased to see a commitment from DCWW of £1.9bn between 2025-2030 to ensure all SOs have ‘no or very low environmental impact’ by 2040.

Additionally, the Welsh Government has made Sustainable Drainage Systems mandatory for almost all new building developments. This will relieve pressure on the sewer network by redirecting and slowing the speed at which surface water enters the system, ensuring storm overflows are used only as a last resort.