On 26 December 2025, thousands took the plunge for traditional Boxing Day swims with encouraging data to match: the Environment Agency’s latest results show 417 of 449 designated bathing waters in England - 93% - meet at least the legal standard, with 87% rated excellent or good, a small but meaningful rise on 2024. Ministers frame 2025 as a reset for a sector that has tested public patience.

The legislative anchor this year was the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025. It introduces prison terms of up to two years for executives who conceal illegal sewage spills and gives regulators faster, tougher tools to act. Ofwat also gained explicit powers to block undeserved executive bonuses - a rule that stopped more than £4 million across six firms in its first year.

Money is flowing into the pipes, not just the PR. Ofwat’s PR24 final determinations approved a record £104 billion of investment for 2025–30, ring‑fenced with clawback so unspent allowances return to customers and backed by plans for new reservoirs and major transfer schemes. Licence changes continue to restrict dividends where performance and resilience fall short.

Transparency has stepped up, too. Every storm overflow in England is now monitored and companies must publish near real‑time data on discharges within an hour; a National Storm Overflow Hub brings that information together for the public. A new duty extends near real‑time reporting to the 7,000 emergency overflows, phased to reach 50% coverage by 2030 and 100% by 2035. Campaign groups including The Rivers Trust and Surfers Against Sewage already draw on these feeds to inform swimmers.

Crucially, regulators have more fuel in the tank. The Environment Agency can now recover the costs of enforcement directly from water companies via a new levy, and government proposals would allow civil‑standard, automatic fines to cut the wait for penalties. DEFRA says this underpins the largest budget for water regulation on record, targeted at frontline inspections and prosecutions.

Progress is real, but the job is far from finished. Environment Agency data recorded over 3.6 million hours of sewage discharges in 2024 and Surfers Against Sewage reported a 30% rise to 2,487 pollution incidents - the highest in a decade. Even with this year’s improvement, 32 bathing sites (7%) were still rated poor.

For bill‑payers, protections have been tightened. From July, compensation for service failures increased up to tenfold - to as much as £2,000 for severe incidents - with payments automatic. Alongside Ofwat’s ring‑fencing and dividend restrictions, companies are expanding affordability support, and some utilities are piloting automatic enrolment onto social tariffs so help reaches households that need it.

The government says a Water White Paper will set out long‑term reforms, including its plan to abolish Ofwat and create a single regulator to simplify accountability. Publication is now slated for early 2026, after ministers accepted the thrust of the Independent Water Commission’s recommendations in July.

For swimmers and communities, the shift is practical as well as political. Before you head out, check the Environment Agency’s Swimfo updates during the season and use near real‑time overflow data via the National Storm Overflow Hub; in parts of southern England, new in‑river sensors are testing predictive alerts. Citizen science projects such as The Rivers Trust’s Big River Watch are another way to keep pressure on polluters and build evidence for cleaner water.

What to watch next year: whether average storm‑overflow spills fall towards Ofwat’s 2029 target, how quickly emergency overflow monitors are rolled out, and if the number of poor‑rated sites keeps dropping. Boxing Day swimmers are a reminder of what’s at stake - and how transparent data, real enforcement and sustained investment can make cold water feel a little warmer.