We all appreciate the essential nature of water for our health and wellbeing and its role in everything we do day-to-day. For this reason, a reliable supply of clean, wholesome water is our customers’ number one priority and ours.

The South East is officially designated ‘water stressed’ by the Environment Agency, which means a high proportion of rain in our region is needed for public supplies and we are more likely to experience drought restrictions in dry weather.

Our challenge is to leave more water in the environment to protect some of our most sensitive habitats, while at the same time securing supplies for one of the fastest growing populations in the UK and preparing for the increased risk of drought due to climate change.

Significant action is needed now to invest in and create new robust, resilient and less weather- dependent water supplies, as well as finding new ways to use the supplies we have more wisely.

We will be harnessing the benefits of new technology, such as smart meters for our customers, which will help them and us better understand their water use and help find more leaks, so together we can reduce consumption. We are committed to reaching Government targets on reducing water use five years ahead of the national deadline.

We also need to invest significantly in large- scale infrastructure such as new reservoirs and transfer pipelines so we can capture and transfer more of the precious rain which falls in our region.

In addition, we plan to use cutting-edge technology to generate new sources of drinking water – using treated wastewater for reliable drinking water supplies (water recycling) and converting seawater into drinking water (desalination). Transfers of water from other new developments in the South East have a vital role to play and we are working closely with other regional water companies on our long-term plans.

We have a once in a generation opportunity to develop these more resilient water supplies for us and future generations. Currently around 70% of the water we supply comes from groundwater sources, with 23% from rivers and 7% from reservoirs. By 2050 water recycling and desalination could make up more than a third of our supplies, with transfers from neighbouring water companies making up nearly another third.

The development of these more resilient options means from 2040, we will no longer need to rely on applying for permits and orders to abstract more water in droughts, at a time when rivers and groundwater are already under pressure, unless faced with extreme dry conditions.

Since our last consultation in 2022-23 we have progressed our investigations into these projects and reviewed our draft plan alongside those of other companies in the South East. We have also listened to our customers’ feedback and considered updated guidance from our regulators, as well as new forecasts for population growth and climate change.

This has resulted in the removal of schemes which are no longer practical and longer timelines to deliver others. The new timelines, particularly to deliver water recycling in Hampshire by 2034, mean we need to strengthen our approach to resilience and introduce short-term mitigation measures.

Due to these substantial changes, we have taken a little longer to update our plan and we are now reconsulting on this revised draft. We look forward to hearing your feedback as we take these vital next steps.

Lawrence Gosden
Chief Executive Officer