A record-breaking ocean rower and MP has backed a Liberal Democrat proposal for a new Clean Water Authority (CWA) in an attempt to clean up the “disgusting” state of the country’s waterways.

South Cotswolds MP Roz Savage urged her party to “go further” on its sewage policy at its autumn conference being held in Brighton.

Dr Savage holds two Guinness World Records for becoming the first woman to row across two and then three oceans solo and for the longest ocean row by a solo female.

She said a proposal to replace Ofwat with the new regulatory body could “lead the transformation of water companies into public benefit companies”.