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Mayor unveils ambitious new vision to clean up rivers, prevent flooding and maintain water supplies

24 Sep 2025

Mayor Steve Rotheram today unveiled an ambitious vision setting out how the Liverpool City Region will clean up its rivers, canals and coastline, protect against flooding and maintain a reliable water supply.

The Vision for Sustainable Water Management, which the Combined Authority will be asked to approve next week, builds on a landmark agreement signed this year with United Utilities and the Mersey Rivers Trust.

That Memorandum of Understanding was aimed at helping deliver the Government’s national water quality goals and accelerate the clean-up of the River Mersey. 

The Vision sets out four strategic objectives, around creating cleaner bodies of water, avoiding flooding, mitigating the impacts of sea level rise and maintaining reliable water supplies.  It was developed with a range of partners, including United Utilities and the Mersey Rivers Trust.

Speaking about the Vision, Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram said: “This vision is all about protecting what matters. That means stopping raw sewage being pumped into our rivers – which is why I’ve pledged to make the River Mersey free of untreated discharges by 2030.

“It means making sure homes don’t flood when the heavens open. And it means clean, safe water – so that people can swim, fish and enjoy our coastline without worry.

“And, above all, it’s about fairness. Because too often, it’s our most disadvantaged communities who are hardest hit – whether through poor infrastructure, rising costs, or being shut out of decision-making. Tackling that is part of the fight for environmental and social justice.”

Dr Keith Hendry, Chair of the Mersey Rivers Trust, said: “Collaboration has been at the heart of the improvements to the Mersey and is fundamental to future success.

“We are therefore hugely encouraged and delighted to be involved in the development of an integrated, collaborative approach to water management with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and United Utilities.

“By working in partnership together, we can achieve so much more and at a greater pace to deliver a high-quality water environment on which the Liverpool City Region depends for its future growth and prosperity.”

Louise Beardmore, Chief Executive, United Utilities, said: “Making the North West stronger, greener and healthier is at the heart of everything we do, and we are delighted to be working alongside the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Local Authorities, and the Mersey Rivers Trust to bring to life the vision for Merseyside.

“Water matters to this City Region, to its communities and its environment, from the Mersey Estuary to the Rivers Alt and Birkett.

“We are proud of our efforts to improve water quality and through our multi-million-pound investment in wastewater treatment, we can see the transformational benefits along the Mersey’s waterfront as species return to the river.

“We all want to see cleaner lakes, rivers and seas, and that’s why we’re on with delivering the largest ever environmental investment programme the North West has ever seen."

This Vision is a next step to an Integrated Water Management Plan, which will focus on ‘key enablers’ identified in the vision as necessary for its achievement.

Those key enablers are:

  • Investment: Increasing available investment for water management
  • Resources and skills: Well-resourced responsible authorities and partnerships, as well as having the knowledge and skills to transform the water system effectively
  • Policy: Water management, including water resources, to be fully integrated when making key decisions
  • Data and evidence: The gathering and sharing of data to guide and monitor activity
  • Engagement and communication: Better engagement between authorities, businesses and residents
  • Spatial planning and growth: Ensuring that implications for water management are considered as part of the regional and national growth agenda.

The Vision has been developed in response to a range of water management challenges that are being worsened by climate change. Storms are becoming more frequent, intense and unpredictable, compounded by dense urbanisation in parts of the city region. This is causing surface water flooding events that are a threat to human life and health, infrastructure including homes, and the economy. 

Some parts of the city region have a high proportion of combined sewer systems, where rainfall enters the same system as sewage from homes and businesses. At times of heavy rainfall these combined sewers quickly reach capacity and contribute to flooding and the pollution of city region waterways.

Water management challenges are disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations, such as older residents and lower-income communities, who have reduced capacity to prepare for and respond to water-related disruptions.

Stakeholders including the Combined Authority, the six Local Authorities, United Utilities, the Mersey Rivers Trust, the Environment Agency and Network Rail, have discussed the challenges posed by more frequent flooding events and worked together to produce this Vision for Sustainable Water Management.