Severn Trent Water's draft Water Resources Management Plan 2009 sets out a proposed 25 year strategy for maintaining the balance between the supply and demand for water in its region and maintaining the service level of no more than three hosepipe bans per 100 years.
The plan demonstrates that we can meet the future demand of our customers in a dry year in a way that:
- Complies with all relevant legislation, guidelines and directions.
- Strikes the right balance between keeping down customer bills, minimising impact on the environment and ensuring the sustainable use of water resources.
This draft plan builds on the Severn Trent Water 2004 plan and is aligned with our Strategic Direction Statement – Focus on Water – which was published in December 2007.
This plan is issued for public consultation, and Severn Trent Water would welcome comments and suggestions for consideration in the formulation of the final plan to be issued in April 2009. Full details of the public consultation process and how you can have your say can be found on our website www.stwater.co.uk or by telephoning 0800 023 4215.
Projections of Growth
The projections of growth in demand and the availability of water supply over the next 25 years, show that Severn Trent Water face potential shortfalls in water supply capabilities of around 240 Megalitres per day (Ml/d).
Our proposed strategy to meet these shortfalls for the period from 2010 to 2015 is:
- To reduce leakage to a new economic level of 475 Ml/d by 2015. This will provide an additional 20 Ml/d of water to meet demand.
- To accelerate domestic customer metering in the most water stressed zones through a policy of compulsory metering when a property changes occupier and further promotion of the existing free meter option. This is expected to reduce demand by around 3 Ml/d.
- To get the most value out of the existing water resources by improving the connectivity of the Severn Trent Water network. For example, we propose to increase the capacity of the Derwent Valley Aqueduct which will enable us to move more water from the north of the region, where there is a surplus, to the south, where there is a deficit. This provides around 60 Ml/d of additional water in the south.
- To increase water efficiency through working with Severn Trent Water domestic and commercial customers to install more water efficient equipment and to promote water conserving behaviour. We will develop proposals further once we have results of the industry wide Waterwise work later this year and our own water efficiency trials. These activities are expected to reduce demand by around 2 Ml/d.
- Severn Trent Water don’t propose to develop any new sources of water in the 2010 to 2015 period. In the longer term, new water resources schemes have been identified that will deliver around 125 Ml/d of new supply capacity.
More detail of the proposed schemes are given in the full document. Some of the proposals could take 10 years or longer to plan, build and commission and Severn Trent Water propose to begin the next phases of planning, feasibility and more detailed engineering appraisal in the next Asset Management Period from 2010 to 2015. The investment requirements will be included in the draft Business Plan to be submitted to Ofwat in August 2008.
The draft plan is open to public consultation, and we are seeking views from all our stakeholders on the content of our strategy. The consultation period is open for 12 weeks from the publication of our draft plan, and we will then review all responses and assess their impact on our proposed strategy.
In line with the statutory process, we will publish our responses to consultees’ comments no later than 26 weeks after the publication date of our draft water resources Management Plan. Our published response will make clear how stakeholders’ views have shaped our final strategy.