Washing Machine

Our revised draft plan for 2025-2075

Overview of our plan

Water is a precious resource and to meet the challenge of securing sustainable, long-term water supplies and to protect the environment. Our strategy is built on four key objectives that work together to deliver a major change in water resources planning.

  1. Efficient use of water and minimal wastage across society.
  2. New water sources that provide resilient and sustainable supplies.
  3. A network that can move water around the region.
  4. Catchment and nature-based solutions that improve the environment we rely upon.

To achieve these objectives, we have set ambitious targets to reduce leakage through our supply network as well as the amount of water used in homes and businesses:

  • We aim to reduce leakage by 53% by 2050. This is greater than the 50% reduction target set by the government. This will be achieved through enhanced leak detection and repair by using both conventional and new technologies as well as replacing old pipes that tend to leak more frequently.
  • We aim to reduce water used in homes in a dry year from the current 138 litres per person per day to 110 litres per person per day by 2045; five years ahead of the 2050 date set by the Government. This will be done through the installation of smart meters, providing water saving advice and water efficient devices via home visits, the use of innovative tariffs and water use awareness campaigns targeting current and future customers.
  • We plan to reduce water used in business by 9% by 2038 through smart metering, water audits and collaborative working with businesses and communities.
  • We will be promoting catchment and nature-based solutions through our Catchment First programme to improve environmental resilience.

In addition to reducing demand, we are developing new water sources across our supply area and improving connectivity both within our supply area and with our neighbouring water companies. This will enable the transfer of water from areas with surplus water to areas where there is a shortage. We are also enhancing our catchment approach, which looks at water activities in the catchment as a whole to improve the health of the environment in the long term for the benefit of all water users.

As part of our efforts to build a more resilient supply system, we are planning to end reliance on drought permits and orders to increase supplies during droughts. Drought permits and orders temporarily remove restrictions on our abstraction licences, allowing us to take more water from rivers and groundwater to meet demand during droughts. We do not plan to apply for drought permits and orders post 2041 unless faced with an extreme drought, i.e. one with greater than 1-in-500 year severity. At some environmentally sensitive sites in Hampshire and Sussex, we will stop relying on drought permits and orders much earlier.

Water strategy for
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  1. Reduce demand for water

  2. Reduce demand for water

    3. Reduce demand for water

    Reduce leaks.

  3. Reduce demand for water

  4. Reduce demand for water

    5. Reduce demand for water

    Help customers use less water.

  5. Drought action

    6. Drought action

    Apply for a drought order on the River Test to continue abstracting water during dry weather in droughts until 2033-34 and after that only in droughts more severe than 1-in-200 year likelihood; apply for a drought permit and order on the Lower Itchen until 2029-30 and a drought order at Candover until 2033-34.

  6. New sources of water and transfers

    7. New sources of water and transfers

    Receive up to 21 million litres of water from Portsmouth Water following the construction of Havant Thicket Reservoir.

  7. New sources of water and transfers

    8. New sources of water and transfers

    Build new pipelines so we can move water around our Hampshire area.

  8. Catchment or nature-based scheme

  9. Catchment or nature-based scheme

    10. Catchment or nature-based scheme

    Catchment schemes to address nitrates and pesticides and improve the resilience of our water sources.

  10. New sources of water and transfers

    11. New sources of water and transfers

    Recycle water from our Sandown site.

  11. New sources of water and transfers

  12. New sources of water and transfers

    13. New sources of water and transfers

    Develop groundwater sources near Newbury, Romsey and Kings Somborne.

  13. New sources of water and transfers

    14. New sources of water and transfers

    Recycle water at Budds Farm Wastewater Treatment Works and store it in Havant Thicket Reservoir before transferring up to 90 million litres through a new pipeline to our Otterbourne water supply works for treatment, including upgrading the works.

  14. Drought action

    15. Drought action

    Bring in water from Norway in sea tankers in severe droughts.

  15. Reduce demand for water

    16. Reduce demand for water

    Reduce leaks.

  16. Reduce demand for water

    17. Reduce demand for water

    Help customers use less water.

  17. New sources of water and transfers

    18. New sources of water and transfers

    Recycle water from our Littlehampton Wastewater Treatment Works and transfer it via the River Rother to our Water Supply Works near Pulborough.

  18. Drought action

    19. Drought action

    Apply for a drought permit or order on the River Rother to continue abstracting water during dry weather until 2029-30 and after that only in droughts more severe than 1-in-200 year likelihood.

  19. Catchment or nature-based scheme

  20. Catchment or nature-based scheme

    21. Catchment or nature-based scheme

    Catchment schemes to address nitrates and pesticides and improve the resilience of our water sources.

  21. New sources of water and transfers

    22. New sources of water and transfers

    Import up to 4 million litres per day from SES Water to North Sussex.

  22. New sources of water and transfers

    23. New sources of water and transfers

    Deliver upgrades to Weir Wood Reservoir.

  23. New sources of water and transfers

  24. New sources of water and transfers

    25. New sources of water and transfers

    Groundwater improvement schemes in West Sussex and a groundwater scheme in Brighton to provide more water.

  25. New sources of water and transfers

    26. New sources of water and transfers

    Develop a groundwater source near Petworth.

  26. Reduce demand for water

  27. Reduce demand for water

  28. Reduce demand for water

    29. Reduce demand for water

    Reduce leaks.

  29. Reduce demand for water

  30. Reduce demand for water

  31. Reduce demand for water

    32. Reduce demand for water

    Help customers use less water.

  32. Drought action

    33. Drought action

    Apply for a drought permit/order on the River Medway to continue abstracting water during dry weather.

  33. Catchment or nature-based scheme

  34. Catchment or nature-based scheme

    35. Catchment or nature-based scheme

    Catchment schemes to address nitrates and pesticides and improve the resilience of our water sources.

  35. New sources of water and transfers

    36. New sources of water and transfers

    Recycle water from a water recycling plant near Aylesford and release it into the River Medway from where it will be abstracted and treated at a water supply works.

  36. New sources of water and transfers

    37. New sources of water and transfers

    Work with a large industrial water user to provide them with recycled wastewater and enable us to use their existing groundwater sources.

  37. New sources of water and transfers

    38. New sources of water and transfers

    Make improvements to an existing groundwater source near Gravesend.

  1. Reduce demand for water

  2. Reduce demand for water

    3. Reduce demand for water

    Reduce leaks.

  3. Reduce demand for water

  4. Reduce demand for water

    5. Reduce demand for water

    Help customers use less water.

  5. New sources of water and transfers

    6. New sources of water and transfers

    Take water from the River Test when flows are high in the winter and use it to supplement our underground water supplies.

  6. New sources of water and transfers

    7. New sources of water and transfers

    Make improvements to an existing groundwater source on the Isle of Wight.

  7. Catchment or nature-based scheme

    8. Catchment or nature-based scheme

    Catchment schemes to address nitrates and pesticides and improve the resilience of our water sources.

  8. New sources of water and transfers

    9. New sources of water and transfers

    Receive up to 120 million litres a day from Thames Water.

  9. New sources of water and transfers

    10. New sources of water and transfers

    Develop our groundwater source at Newchurch.

  10. Drought action

    11. Drought action

    Stop the use of all supply-side drought permits and orders after 2040-41 unless faced with a drought of more than 1-in-500 year severity.

  11. Reduce demand for water

    12. Reduce demand for water

    Reduce leaks.

  12. Reduce demand for water

    13. Reduce demand for water

    Help customers use less water.

  13. Drought action

    14. Drought action

    Stop the use of all permits and orders to source more water during droughts after 2040-41 unless faced with a drought of more than 1-in-500 year severity.

  14. New sources of water and transfers

    15. New sources of water and transfers

    Build a new reservoir in Sussex to store water from the River Adur.

  15. Catchment or nature-based scheme

    16. Catchment or nature-based scheme

    Catchment schemes to address nitrates and pesticides and improve the resilience of our water sources.

  16. New sources of water and transfers

    17. New sources of water and transfers

    Import water from Havant Thicket Reservoir in Hampshire to Pulborough.

  17. New sources of water and transfers

    18. New sources of water and transfers

    Import water from South East Water to Pulborough.

  18. New sources of water and transfers

    19. New sources of water and transfers

    Build pipelines to extend our grid to transfer water between Pulborough and Worthing and between Worthing and Brighton.

  19. New sources of water and transfers

    20. New sources of water and transfers

    Build a desalination plant, to turn seawater into high quality drinking water, on the tidal River Arun.

  20. Reduce demand for water

  21. Reduce demand for water

  22. Reduce demand for water

    23. Reduce demand for water

    Reduce leaks.

  23. Reduce demand for water

  24. Reduce demand for water

  25. Reduce demand for water

    26. Reduce demand for water

    Help customers use less water.

  26. Catchment or nature-based scheme

    27. Catchment or nature-based scheme

    Catchment schemes to address nitrates and pesticides and improve the resilience of our water sources.

  27. New sources of water and transfers

  28. New sources of water and transfers

    29. New sources of water and transfers

    Desalination plants on the Thames Estuary, and Thanet coast.

  29. New sources of water and transfers

  30. New sources of water and transfers

    31. New sources of water and transfers

    Import water from South East Water to Canterbury and Rye.

  31. New sources of water and transfers

    32. New sources of water and transfers

    Improve a groundwater source near Rye to provide more water.

  32. New sources of water and transfers

    33. New sources of water and transfers

    Recycle water from Tonbridge and store it in Bewl Water before treating it at a nearby water supply works.

  33. Drought action

    34. Drought action

    Stop the use of permits and orders to source more water during droughts after 2040-41 unless faced with a drought of more than 1-in-500 year severity.

  1. Reduce demand for water

  2. Reduce demand for water

    3. Reduce demand for water

    Reduce leaks.

  3. Reduce demand for water

  4. Reduce demand for water

    5. Reduce demand for water

    Help customers to maintain a sustainable level of water use.

  5. Catchment or nature-based scheme

  6. Catchment or nature-based scheme

    7. Catchment or nature-based scheme

    Ongoing work to use catchment management and nature-based solutions to improve the environment.

  7. Reduce demand for water

    8. Reduce demand for water

    Reduce leaks.

  8. Reduce demand for water

    9. Reduce demand for water

    Help customers to maintain a sustainable level of water use.

  9. New sources of water and transfers

    10. New sources of water and transfers

    Recycle water near Horsham and transfer it through a new pipeline to an existing reservoir near Pulborough before it is treated and supplied to customers.

  10. Catchment or nature-based scheme

  11. Catchment or nature-based scheme

    12. Catchment or nature-based scheme

    Ongoing work to use catchment management and nature-based solutions to improve the environment.

  12. New sources of water and transfers

    13. New sources of water and transfers

    Import water from South East Water to Brighton.

  13. Reduce demand for water

  14. Reduce demand for water

  15. Reduce demand for water

    16. Reduce demand for water

    Reduce leaks.

  16. Reduce demand for water

  17. Reduce demand for water

  18. Reduce demand for water

    19. Reduce demand for water

    Help customers to maintain a sustainable level of water use.

  19. Catchment or nature-based scheme

  20. Catchment or nature-based scheme

    21. Catchment or nature-based scheme

    Ongoing work to use catchment management and nature-based solutions to improve the environment.

  21. New sources of water and transfers

    22. New sources of water and transfers

    Recycle water near Hastings and store it in Darwell Reservoir before treating it at a nearby water supply works.

  22. New sources of water and transfers

    23. New sources of water and transfers

    Increase the size of Bewl Water Reservoir.

  23. New sources of water and transfers

    24. New sources of water and transfers

    Desalination on the Isle of Sheppey.

Key

  • Reduce demand for water
  • Drought action
  • New sources of water and transfers
  • Catchment or nature-based scheme

Water strategy for 2025 – 2035

  1. Reducing leaks1

    Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

    Reduce leaks.

  2. Helping customers2

    Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

    Help customers use less water.

  3. Drought action3

    River Test

    Apply for a drought order on the River Test to continue abstracting water during dry weather in droughts until 2033-34 and after that only in droughts more severe than 1-in-200 year likelihood; apply for a drought permit and order on the Lower Itchen until 2029-30 and a drought order at Candover until 2033-34.

  4. Water transfer4

    Havant

    Receive up to 21 million litres of water from Portsmouth Water following the construction of Havant Thicket Reservoir.

  5. Pipeline5

    Hampshire

    Build new pipelines so we can move water around our Hampshire area.

  6. Catchment6

    Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

    Catchment schemes to address nitrates and pesticides and improve the resilience of our water sources.

  7. Water recycling7

    Sandown

    Recycle water from our Sandown site.

  8. Groundwater8

    Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

    Develop groundwater sources near Newbury, Romsey and Kings Somborne.

  9. Water transfer9

    Havant

    Recycle water at Budds Farm Wastewater Treatment Works and store it in Havant Thicket Reservoir before transferring up to 90 million litres through a new pipeline to our Otterbourne water supply works for treatment, including upgrading the works.

  10. Drought action10

    Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

    Bring in water from Norway in sea tankers in severe droughts.

  11. Reducing leaks11

    West Sussex and Brighton and Hove

    Reduce leaks.

  12. Helping customers12

    West Sussex and Brighton and Hove

    Help customers use less water.

  13. Water recycling13

    Littlehampton

    Recycle water from our Littlehampton Wastewater Treatment Works and transfer it via the River Rother to our Water Supply Works near Pulborough.

  14. Drought action14

    River Rother

    Apply for a drought permit or order on the River Rother to continue abstracting water during dry weather until 2029-30 and after that only in droughts more severe than 1-in-200 year likelihood.

  15. Catchment15

    West Sussex and Brighton and Hove

    Catchment schemes to address nitrates and pesticides and improve the resilience of our water sources.

  16. Water transfer16

    West Sussex and Brighton and Hove

    Import up to 4 million litres per day from SES Water to North Sussex.

  17. Reservoir17

    Weir Wood Reservoir

    Deliver upgrades to Weir Wood Reservoir.

  18. Groundwater18

    West Sussex and Brighton and Hove

    Groundwater improvement schemes in West Sussex and a groundwater scheme in Brighton to provide more water.

  19. Groundwater19

    Petworth

    Develop a groundwater source near Petworth.

  20. Reducing leaks20

    East Sussex and Kent

    Reduce leaks.

  21. Helping customers21

    East Sussex and Kent

    Help customers use less water.

  22. Drought action22

    River Medway

    Apply for a drought permit/order on the River Medway to continue abstracting water during dry weather.

  23. Catchment23

    East Sussex and Kent

    Catchment schemes to address nitrates and pesticides and improve the resilience of our water sources.

  24. Water recycling24

    Aylesford

    Recycle water from a water recycling plant near Aylesford and release it into the River Medway from where it will be abstracted and treated at a water supply works.

  25. Water recycling25

    Medway

    Work with a large industrial water user to provide them with recycled wastewater and enable us to use their existing groundwater sources.

  26. Groundwater26

    Gravesend

    Make improvements to an existing groundwater source near Gravesend.

Water strategy for 2035 – 2050

  1. Reducing leaks1

    Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

    Reduce leaks.

  2. Helping customers2

    Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

    Help customers use less water.

  3. Aquifer3

    River Test

    Take water from the River Test when flows are high in the winter and use it to supplement our underground water supplies.

  4. Groundwater4

    Isle of Wight

    Make improvements to an existing groundwater source on the Isle of Wight.

  5. Catchment5

    Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

    Catchment schemes to address nitrates and pesticides and improve the resilience of our water sources.

  6. Water transfer6

    Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

    Receive up to 120 million litres a day from Thames Water.

  7. Groundwater7

    Newchurch

    Develop our groundwater source at Newchurch.

  8. Drought action8

    Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

    Stop the use of all supply-side drought permits and orders after 2040-41 unless faced with a drought of more than 1-in-500 year severity.

  9. Reducing leaks9

    West Sussex and Brighton and Hove

    Reduce leaks.

  10. Helping customers10

    West Sussex and Brighton and Hove

    Help customers use less water.

  11. Drought action11

    West Sussex and Brighton and Hove

    Stop the use of all permits and orders to source more water during droughts after 2040-41 unless faced with a drought of more than 1-in-500 year severity.

  12. Reservoir12

    River Adur

    Build a new reservoir in Sussex to store water from the River Adur.

  13. Catchment13

    West Sussex and Brighton and Hove

    Catchment schemes to address nitrates and pesticides and improve the resilience of our water sources.

  14. Water transfer14

    Pulborough

    Import water from Havant Thicket Reservoir in Hampshire to Pulborough.

  15. Water transfer15

    Pulborough

    Import water from South East Water to Pulborough.

  16. Pipeline16

    West Sussex and Brighton and Hove

    Build pipelines to extend our grid to transfer water between Pulborough and Worthing and between Worthing and Brighton.

  17. Desalination17

    River Arun

    Build a desalination plant, to turn seawater into high quality drinking water, on the tidal River Arun.

  18. Reducing leaks18

    East Sussex and Kent

    Reduce leaks.

  19. Helping customers19

    East Sussex and Kent

    Help customers use less water.

  20. Catchment20

    East Sussex and Kent

    Catchment schemes to address nitrates and pesticides and improve the resilience of our water sources.

  21. Desalination21

    Thames Estuary and Thanet coast

    Desalination plants on the Thames Estuary, and Thanet coast.

  22. Water transfer22

    Canterbury and Rye

    Import water from South East Water to Canterbury and Rye.

  23. Groundwater23

    Rye

    Improve a groundwater source near Rye to provide more water.

  24. Water recycling24

    Tonbridge

    Recycle water from Tonbridge and store it in Bewl Water before treating it at a nearby water supply works.

  25. Drought action25

    East Sussex and Kent

    Stop the use of permits and orders to source more water during droughts after 2040-41 unless faced with a drought of more than 1-in-500 year severity.

Water strategy for 2050 – 2075

  1. Reducing leaks1

    Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

    Reduce leaks.

  2. Helping customers2

    Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

    Help customers to maintain a sustainable level of water use.

  3. Catchment3

    Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

    Ongoing work to use catchment management and nature-based solutions to improve the environment.

  4. Reducing leaks4

    West Sussex and Brighton and Hove

    Reduce leaks.

  5. Helping customers5

    West Sussex and Brighton and Hove

    Help customers to maintain a sustainable level of water use.

  6. Water recycling6

    Horsham

    Recycle water near Horsham and transfer it through a new pipeline to an existing reservoir near Pulborough before it is treated and supplied to customers.

  7. Catchment7

    West Sussex and Brighton and Hove

    Ongoing work to use catchment management and nature-based solutions to improve the environment.

  8. Water transfer8

    Brighton

    Import water from South East Water to Brighton.

  9. Reducing leaks9

    East Sussex and Kent

    Reduce leaks.

  10. Helping customers10

    East Sussex and Kent

    Help customers to maintain a sustainable level of water use.

  11. Catchment11

    East Sussex and Kent

    Ongoing work to use catchment management and nature-based solutions to improve the environment.

  12. Water recycling12

    Hastings

    Recycle water near Hastings and store it in Darwell Reservoir before treating it at a nearby water supply works.

  13. Reservoir13

    Bewl Water Reservoir

    Increase the size of Bewl Water Reservoir.

  14. Desalination14

    Isle of Sheppey

    Desalination on the Isle of Sheppey.

Managing uncertainty

Long-term planning for water resources requires us to make decisions now for an uncertain future.

To manage uncertainty, we have used an adaptive planning approach. We have looked at multiple supply-demand balance scenarios in view of the uncertainties associated with population growth forecasts, the required level of reductions required in the water we take from the environment and climate change impacts. This approach has helped us produce a more robust and resilient plan. The options listed above for each of our three supply areas allow us to maintain supply-demand balance across all future scenarios considered in this plan.

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Our revised draft plan

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