Yorkshire Water has announced that non-executive director Nicola Medalova will replace Nicola Shaw as chief executive in January, one day after regulators issued the company the lowest possible environmental performance rating. The joint regulator report placed Yorkshire Water at the bottom tier for pollution incidents and compliance, intensifying scrutiny of its wastewater and storm overflow management across its network. Leadership change at this point signals likely shifts in capital investment priorities, asset maintenance strategies and environmental risk management for existing treatment works and sewer infrastructure.

England and Wales’ four main water regulators have issued a first joint performance report, finding treated drinking water quality remains high while pollution incidents from wastewater networks and storm overflows are still unacceptably frequent. The consolidated assessment compares all water and sewerage companies on metrics such as serious pollution events, leakage per kilometre of main, and compliance with discharge permits. For civil and environmental engineers, the report signals continued regulatory pressure on CSO capacity upgrades, sewer rehabilitation, and treatment works resilience rather than on potable water process redesign.

Enersea in the UK and Dutch firm Carbon Haven are jointly developing an offshore CO₂ injection system to convert depleted North Sea gas platforms into permanent storage sites. The concept focuses on reusing existing jackets, topsides and subsea pipelines to transport and inject captured CO₂ into exhausted gas reservoirs, avoiding new large-diameter trunklines and minimising new offshore construction. For civil and geotechnical engineers, the work centres on verifying long-term well integrity, platform structural capacity under altered loading, and caprock sealing performance for geological containment.