Exclusive: Labour calls on firm to urgently test treatment works after dozens in south-east London experience vomiting and diarrhoea

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Steve Reed, Labour’s shadow environment secretary, has urged Thames Water to “get a grip” and test treatment works “urgently” after it emerged over the weekend that the company had tested the water at only one property.

Over the last two weeks, dozens of people in Beckenham, south-east London, have reported becoming unwell with diarrhoea and vomiting. The symptoms in most cases have lasted for an unusually long time – up to two weeks. They have also been severe, with multiple people hospitalised, including an eight-year-old boy.

Regulator understood to be looking at ‘recovery regime’ for Thames Water and others in sector

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Ofwat, the water regulator for England and Wales, is understood to be considering cutting fines for sewage-dumping water companies if they are facing financial pressures.

According to the Financial Times, which first reported the plan, the regulator intends to draw up a “recovery regime” for Thames Water, which is facing collapse or restructuring owing to its high debts, and others that find themselves in similar positions.

Party unveils plans for new regulator to tackle sewage crisis and banning bonuses for water firm CEOs as it vies for attention

The Liberal Democrats are no strangers to election stunts as they vie for attention in a crowded political field: already this year they have produced a giant hourglass to represent “time running out for Rishi Sunak” and have had an activist dress up as a “Tory” dinosaur, holding a sign reading “Make this Conservative government history”.

But getting their leader to fall off a paddleboard into Windermere in the Lake District to highlight England’s sewage crisis is a new one.

Water watchdog decision on bills in England and Wales delayed until after election, as Thames crisis looms

Ofwat is poised to refuse most water companies’ requests to ratchet up consumer bills, with some getting as little as half of what they have asked for, the Guardian has learned.

The decision from the water watchdog for England and Wales, Ofwat, has been formally delayed until 11 July because of the general election. Its verdict, known as a draft determination, comes amid a growing crisis in the water sector.

Southern Water – 91% to £915

Thames Water – 59% to £749

Hafren Dyfrdwy – 56% to £676

Severn Trent – 50% to £657

Wessex Water – 50% to £822

Yorkshire Water – 46% to £682

Dŵr Cymru – 43% to £702

United Utilities – 38% to £666

South East Water – 35% £330

Pennon – 33% to £644

Portsmouth Water – 31% to £157

SES – 30% to £315

Anglian Water – 29% to £682

Northumbrian Water and Essex & Suffolk Water – 26% to £530

Affinity Water – 25% to £294

South Staffs & Cambridge Water – 24% to £221
Source: Consumer Council for Water
Data note: The figures are estimates which include forecasts for inflation of 2% a year up to 2030 to requests from water companies submitted to Ofwat.

Speaking at the UK River Summit, Philip Duffy said officials do not want to reveal the true ‘embarrassing’ environmental picture

The head of the Environment Agency has admitted that freedom of information requests have been buried by the regulator because the truth about the environment in England is “embarrassing”.

Philip Duffy, the body’s chief executive, told an audience at the UK River Summit in Morden, south London, this week that his officials were “worried about revealing the true state of what is going on” with regards to the state of the environment.

Final dividend hiked by 9% as MPs write to Ofwat boss urging him to deny water firms’ requests in price review process

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Severn Trent has increased its payout to shareholders despite being responsible for 60,000 sewage spills last year.

Severn hiked its final dividend by 9% to 70.1p a share after pre-tax profits swelled almost 20% to £201.3m in the year to the end of March.

Supplier hands out £127m to investors as it says normal service has been restored for 85% of customers

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The owner of South West Water has said normal service has been restored for 85% of its customers after unsafe drinking water led to more than 100 cases of a waterborne disease in Devon, as it raised its dividend payout to shareholders.

After cryptosporidium, a disease that can cause unpleasant symptoms such as diarrhoea and vomiting, was detected in the water supply in the Brixham area of Devon last Wednesday, 17,000 households and businesses were told by South West Water not to use their tap water for drinking without boiling and cooling it first.

England’s chief medical officer says 19th-century wastewater system ended cholera outbreaks and calls for similar focus now

Public health must be central to future investment in a new wastewater system to protect people from waterborne diseases, the chief medical officer for England, Prof Chris Whitty, has said.

Reducing people’s risk of coming into contact with human faecal pathogens in untreated and treated sewage discharged into rivers and coastal waters must be a priority, a report by the Royal Academy of Engineering said.

But authorities say households in some areas need to continue safety measures amid waterborne parasitic disease

• Anger in Devon as more cases of waterborne disease expected

Thousands of people in Devon can now safely drink their tap water again without having to boil it first, the region’s water supplier has announced after a parasite outbreak.

South West Water said about 14,500 households in the Alston supply area could use their tap water safely, although about 2,500 properties in Hillhead, the upper parts of Brixham and Kingswear should continue to boil their supply before drinking it.