Wessex Water is working in partnership with the Met Office to improve the way it prepares for adverse weather conditions.

Since last year, the Met Office has been creating tailor-made special forecasts for the water company to ensure business continuity and help maintain operations, maintenance and water and sewerage services to customers.

The forecast covers a range of weather parameters over a five day period, giving staff time to prepare for incidents such as bursts, flooding, ice on the roads or storm damage to sites and assets.

Low temperatures and particularly swings in temperature can cause supply pipe leakages and pipe bursts which can lead to flooding and major impacts on customers. Lightning can cause power outages at pumping and treatment centres which not only has a significant impact on customers but also requires operational staff to get the site back up and running.

The forecasts are delivered with a RAG (red, amber, green) prediction, green advising to be aware, amber advising to prepare and red as a sign to take necessary action.

Wessex Water’s management systems manager Patricia Plummer commented:

"Severe weather and other natural occurrences can potentially affect all areas of the business, so having these forecasts and a good relationship with the Met Office is extremely useful to us both from an operations point of view and a financial one.”

"Not only does the information help us prepare for incidents and emergencies, it is also very cost-effective by helping us avoid spending money on rectifying these incidents."

In addition to tailored forecasts, a Met Office ‘Introduction to meteorology for the water industry’ training course has provided Wessex Water personnel with additional meteorological knowledge, enabling them to take proactive measures to safeguard the business.