Water resources management plan

As a region and as a water company we face a time of great uncertainty and change. We face four pressing and interlinked challenges – climate change, environmental protection, population growth and the risk of drought. We have to act now or we will move from a strong position of a surplus of 150 million litres of water daily to a deficit of 30 million litres daily by 2025.

Our Preferred Plan tackles these four challenges head on via a twin-track approach. We will focus on the demand side first and reduce the amount of water used by installing smart meters, reducing leakage and investing in water efficiency.

But we will also invest in the supply-side to increase the amount of water available. This includes investing in a series of interconnecting pipes to better join up our network and ensure we make best use of available resources before developing new ones. In the medium- to long-term, we are likely to need additional resources. This could include winter storage, recirculation of recycled water, or desalination. We will be working with regional stakeholders and neighbouring water companies over the next two to three years to identify the best options to take forward to WRMP 2024.

Our plan is built upon our longstanding guiding principles to develop a system of water supply that is reliable, sustainable and affordable.

We have checked to ensure that our plan does not include any information that would be contrary to the interests of national security or is commercially confidential.