Water industry regulator Ofwat is calling on the water companies to up their game on water resource management and expressed disappointment that water companies’ draft water resources plans have fallen short of expectations.

Ofwat has called for clear improvements from water companies in how they plan for greater resilience against drought. Planning for water resources has increased in importance due to the need to reduce the amount of water taken from the environment and the challenges of climate change and population growth.

In its response published today to water companies’ draft Water Resource Management Plans, the regulator said that water companies could make better use of opportunities to trade water, reduce water consumption and cut leakage in the long term.

It also found that some companies need to do more to involve their customers and third parties in planning and that the quality of some of the draft plans and supporting evidence fell short.

Ofwat also highlighted examples of good practice, such as ambitious proposals to cut leakage in the short term by using satellite imagery and smart meters to locate customer supply pipe leakage.

Ofwat’s response says that while aspects of most company plans are in line with expectations and good practice, there are a number of areas where companies fall short. In responses to individual company plans Ofwat has set out a clear challenge in areas where more evidence is required to convince it that plans deliver in the best interests of customers.

The challenges broadly fall into the following eight areas:

• Customer participation – some companies need to do more to involve their customers in the WRMP process
• Resilience – some draft plans did not sufficiently convince us that they will meet future drought and non-drought hazards effectively
• Leakage – while short term leakage reduction ambition for most is good, there needs to be greater consideration of long term ambition
• Water efficiency – there has been no step change in ambition for water efficiency over previous plans (WRMP14)
• Third party options – some draft plans did not sufficiently convince Ofwat that third party options have been treated appropriately
• Water trading – trading in the short term falls and larger trades are frequently delayed until later in the planning period
• Regional solutions – some progress but regional solutions are typically delayed and this may be a missed opportunity.
• Assurance – for some companies the quality of the draft plans, and information provided to support them, did not instil sufficient confidence in their plan

David Black, Senior Director Water 2020 said:

“We are disappointed that water companies’ draft water resources plans fell short of our expectations given the challenge to the sector for ambitious action to improve resilience. There are examples of good practice in a number of plans, but more can be done to deliver a robust twin track approach and look harder across company boundaries to develop regional solutions and outcomes”

The most recent set of plans (WRMP19) were released for public consultation in Spring 2018 and Ofwat reviewed the draft plans as a statutory consultee.

Click here to download an overview of Ofwat's responses to draft Water Resources Management Plans 2019