Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, the only not-for-profit water company in England and Wales, has confirmed record capital investment of £219 million in the last six months (April to September) to maintain and improve the resilience of its water and wastewater services.

The company’s half-year financial report shows it expects to invest a total of £460 million in the year to March 2019.

Investment has topped £219 million for the first six months and is on course for £460 million over the year. The company is planning a record £2.3 billion investment and lower bills for the upcoming AMP7 investment period 2020 to 2025.

During 2018 to date, the company has responded to three major weather events, including a drought over the summer that was drier than 1976 and some of the worst flooding experienced in the last 50 years in parts of south Wales last month as a result of Storm Callum.

The company’s latest investment to improve the resilience of its services includes:

• “Pipes in Dams” programme which includes a £10 million modernisation of the Talybont dam in the Brecon Beacons, using divers and remotely operated submersible vehicles across several months to upgrade the pipework inside the dam without impacting on drinking water supplies to over 30,000 households.
• Progressing the award-winning RainScape programme to use natural means to stop rain water entering the sewer system in Llanelli, which has been credited locally with helping the town escape the worst of Storm Callum in mid-October. RainScape’s success has led to a second major “sustainable urban drainage” scheme – in partnership with Cardiff Council and Natural Resources Wales – to drastically reduce the amount of rain water entering the sewer network in Grangetown, Cardiff.

The company said the projects are part of Welsh Water’s focus on investing now to bolster resilience over the long-term.

The approach has been backed by the company’s customers during the Have Your Say consultation and embodied in the company’s Welsh Water 2050 vision.

Independent research released in August – published by the consumer body CCWater – showed Welsh Water was the most trusted water and sewerage company in England and Wales, and the highest-rated for value for money and customer satisfaction.

The company also confirmed that its average household customer bills in 2018 were held below the Retail Prices Index measure of inflation for the ninth year in a row, and that it remains on course for a decade of below-inflation price rises by 2020.

It also now supports with its range of social tariffs more than 100,000 customers who genuinely struggle to pay their bills, at a cost to the company of £7 million a year.

Welsh Water Chief Executive Chris Jones said:

“Already in 2018 we have experienced several instances of volatile weather events – including the longest drought that we’ve had in more than a century. This shows that our long-term plan to invest in resilience is necessary to ensure we can continue to earn the trust of our customers – both now and for generations to come.

“We always aim to balance investment in our services to meet our customers’ expectations with making sure our bills are affordable. Our record investment in the first six months of the year, alongside our pledge to peg bill rises below RPI inflation for 10 years to 2020, means we are on track to achieve this.”