The drought in 2022 reminded us how important secure water supplies are for all three sustainability pillars – society, the economy, and the environment. Water holds significant importance and value in various aspects, including ecology, the economy, transport, recreation, and human wellbeing. The country is experiencing more extreme weather, more often. In 2022 the United Kingdom experienced the hottest summer on record for England and the driest since 1995.
Concerns have also been raised in the water industry as reports of water leakage are on the rise, due to underinvestment in infrastructure. It has also been noted that water company executives receive large bonuses, despite poor performance.
With a rising population and increasing concerns for climate change, the UK reviewed the regional and water resource management plans (WRMPs) with the most recent information and returns from consultation.
It is reported that updated demand forecasts confirm that – due to climate change and population growth – by 2050 there will be a shortfall of nearly 5 billion litres of water per day, a third more than what is currently required.
England’s Revised Draft Regional and Water Resources Management Plan
A WRMP sets out the intention of water companies and key regions to achieve a secure water supply for the public, as well as a protected and enhanced environment. The duty to prepare and maintain a WRMP is set out in sections 37A to 37D of the Water Industry Act 1991. It must be prepared at least every 5 years and reviewed annually.
A summary report of England’s revised draft regional and water resources management plans was updated on 20th December 2024. It summarises the revised draft WRMPs, and regional plan information, reviewed by the Environment Agency. The version published in December provides updates to WRMPs of the five regions of England (East, North, Southeast, West Country, and West), as well as water companies, following consultation feedback.
What are the current plans?
The report discusses that there are significant plans for success that should be celebrated, including:
- Drought resilience: Water companies’ plan to be resilient to a drought return period of 1 in 500 years.
- Demand Management ambition: The water industry committed to reducing leakage by 50% and to reduce per capita consumption to 110 litres per person per day by 2050. Demand reduction plans include:
- Develop minimum product standards for showers, taps, and toilets
- Review Water Supply (Water Fitting) Regulations 1999 to address wasteful product issues and enable new technology to be used
- Review the Building Regulations 2010, and standards for water efficiency, water recycling, and drainage standards.
- The revised draft plans also encourage water companies to install smart meter for water to attain regular data, and produce long term targets in reducing leakage and per-capita consumption
- Long term planning for the environment: Plans currently are to achieve sustainable abstraction and protect the environment from climate change over the next 25 years and beyond. The revised draft WRMPs contain proposals for multiple new supply schemes by 2050. This includes the following larger schemes, which will each individually supply 10 million litres of water or more per day:
- 9 new desalination schemes
- 10 new reservoirs and 1 reservoir enlargement
- 7 new water recycling schemes
- multiple new internal and inter-company transfers to share resources
- Climate change and Adaptation Plans: Water companies’ plans are designed to adapt to the changing climate, be resilient to future uncertainties, and set out how they will contribute to the industry commitment of being net zero in carbon by 2030.
- New considerations: For the first time – WRMPs have used natural capital assessment to inform their plans, allowing for costs and benefits to society and the environment to be considered. Also, for the first time, regional plans have been produced across the country to reflect how water companies are thinking more strategically about solutions, considering the needs of other sectors beyond public water supply.
All WRMPs are to be provided by water companies by early 2025, with some being allowed to be published later in the year.
Water (Special Measures) Act 2024 / 2025
The Water (Special Measures) Act received Royal Assent on 24th February 2025 and is applicable to the whole of the United Kingdom. The Bill was introduced to Parliament on 4th September 2024. The Act was brought in for the following reasons:
- A lack of public trust in the industry
- Widespread concerns about underinvestment in infrastructure, levels of pollution, and failures to address illegal spills of sewage
- Ofwat reports on the assessment of water company performance for 2023/2024 as they did not identify any water companies as falling within the “leading” category, and most were in “average” or “lagging behind" categories
- Further reports of provision of bonuses to water company executives (£9.7 million in 2022/2023 and £9.1 million in 2023/2024) and benefits to water and sewage executives, despite poor performance
Other benefits of the Act have been recognised. The Water (Special Measures) Act introduces a range of measures designed to reduce pollution from water companies, including requirements on water companies to adopt pollution incident reduction plans and new powers for regulations to impose sanctions on polluting water companies.
The Act also extends measures of the Environment Act 2021 (clause 3) for water companies to provide more up-to-date and comprehensive data on sewage pollution. Finally, the Act requires water companies to do more to deploy habitat restoration as a Nature-based solution (NBS) within their drainage and sewerage management plans, to help tackle pollution whilst also contributing to nature recovery and net zero efforts.
On 23 October 2024, the Government launched its Independent Commission for Water, which will report back to government in 2025 with recommendations on how to tackle “inherited systemic issues in the water sector”, forming the basis for further legislation.
The measures of the Act will ensure water companies are better held to account where they have failed to deliver for the environment and customers, and will begin to restore trust in the industry. Advice was attained from the Consumer Council for Water and Ofwat, which was reported back to the Government. The Act has four key aims:
- block bonuses for water company executives “who pollute our waterways”
- bring criminal charges against “persistent law breakers”
- impose automatic and “severe” fines for wrongdoing
- enable independent monitoring of every sewer overflow outlet
Overall, plans are underway to ensure that England will have a secure, efficient, clean and resilient water supply. Measures such as the Water (Special Measures) Act will help to ensure water companies are held to account.
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Image credit: © Bernd Brueggemannn
