The National Infrastructure Commission is calling on both Government and the water sector to keep up the momentum in 2021 on water resource planning. 

The call comes in the Commission’s Annual Monitoring Report published today charting progress against each of the sectors of economic infrastructure within its remit : energy, transport, water and wastewater (drainage and sewerage), waste, flood risk management and digital communications.

The report says that the water industry’s ability to plan for the long term has been transformed since the publication of the National Infrastructure Assessment. In addition, clear targets to increase resilience to drought and reduce demand, including halving leakage by 2050, have also provided a clear focus.

However, the Annual Monitoring Report says the demands on England’s water and wastewater systems are increasing as the population grows. It also highlights the fact that currently one million homes in the UK have more than a one per cent chance of flooding in any given year, and there is a one in four chance of a severe drought before 2050.

The NIC is proposing a ten point plan for accelerating action to turn government’s ambitions into reality, including launching the new Infrastructure Bank as soon as possible.

Strategy needed to deliver a reduction in per capita demand for water

On the wider water sector, the Commission has “observed a transformation in how government, the regulators and industry work together” to manage and plan for water resources and tackle drought risk, the report says.

But the NIC is calling for further action, saying this progress now needs to be matched by a strategy to deliver a reduction in per capita demand for water.

The report says the Commission is hoping to see “real progress on measures to reduce water consumption” - starting with publication of the government’s next steps on water efficiency to support a reduction in per capita water demand.

With a one in four chance of a serious drought forecast before 2050, to avoid the risk of severe drought, the Commission’s analysis has suggested that additional water supply and demand reduction totalling 4,000 million litres per day should be delivered by 2050.

The NIC has recommended a twin-track approach of managing demand and enhancing supply to reduce the risk of drought. This can be achieved by the government, regulators and water companies working together to deliver a national water transfer network and additional supply by the 2030s, halving leakage by 2050 and better managing demand, the report says.

The Commission welcomes the “step change in approach” to planning for drought which followed the publication of its recommendations, according to the report.

However, it goes on to express its concern that the government has not yet set out what steps it will take to support the water industry achieving significant reductions in per capita consumption. It has also not yet endorsed the Commission’s specific recommendation supporting greater use of compulsory metering.

Government should provide greater clarity on flood resilience

Commenting on flooding, the Commission has welcomed the £5.2 billion the government has committed to invest over the next six years in managing flood risk. However, the NIC believes the government needs to build on its flood policy statement and provide greater clarity on how much flood resilience will be increased and by when. The Environment Agency’s strategy should also be clear on how and by exactly how much it will set measurable goals for increasing that resilience.

The Commission recommended that government should set out a long term strategy to deliver a nationwide standard of resilience to flooding with an annual likelihood of 0.5 per cent by 2050 where this is feasible. A higher standard of 0.1 per cent should be provided for densely populated areas where the costs per household are lower and there is a greater risk of flooding overwhelming a wide range of services.

To deliver a long term strategy the Commission recommended that the government should put in place a rolling six year funding programme, that the Environment Agency should update plans for catchments and coastal cells by the end of 2023 to identify how risk can be managed most effectively, and that new developments should be resilient to flooding and not increase risk elsewhere.

The Commission has also welcomed the government’s endorsement of its recommendation that water companies and local authorities should work together to publish joint plans to manage surface water flood risk by 2022 - the report says:

“The continuing development of the first round of Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans is a vital part of developing a joint approach to managing surface water flood risk, and the approach to put future rounds of plans on a statutory basis as part of the Environment Bill is welcome.”

Flood resilience – NIC repeats call for national standards

Commenting on flood resilience, the report points out that while in setting out how it plans to make the nation more resilient to floods and its agreement with the Commission about the need to “build resilience everywhere” the government does not agree with setting national standards.

According to the NIC, the government has argued that agreeing national standards would be “complex and require considerable work” and that the existing different levels of flood resilience that already exist across the country “require a more tailored local approach” when setting standards.

However, the Commission “still believes there is a case for national standards which would support a more strategic and integrated approach to flood management across catchments and support levelling up across the country.”

The report says that in the absence of standards to set a long term ambition, the government has set out a commitment to develop, by spring 2022, a set of national indicators to monitor trends and local conditions so that progress in increasing resilience can be measured.

However, while these could form the basis of clear and measurable goals for each area, “there is a danger that these will only report retrospectively on progress,” the report warns.

Plans of action now needed next to deliver strategic goals

The Commission is proposing a ten point plan for accelerating action to turn government’s ambitions into reality, including launching the new Infrastructure Bank as soon as possible.

Clear plans with policy levers, appropriate budgets and milestones are now needed to ensure government departments, industry and regulators are working effectively towards the stated goals, argues today’s report, adding that the Covid pandemic only increases the importance of ensuring infrastructure is in place to support a sustainable economic recovery across the whole of the UK.

In particular, government has yet to commit to legislating to give regulators net zero and collaboration duties, and developing mechanisms to introduce more competition to facilitate strategic investment in water and energy requires attention.

The Commission is also still awaiting a formal response to its Anticipate, react, recover – Resilient infrastructure systems study which makes recommendations on how to make the UK’s infrastructure resilient to shocks and for the long term.

Commenting in the foreword Sir John Armitt, Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission said:

“We anticipate that publication of the National Infrastructure Strategy will catalyse decision making and investment across all sectors, helping to address the challenges of levelling up the UK’s economic geography and achieving net zero. Infrastructure can also help create the conditions for a market led recovery from the major economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“But achieving this will require detailed planning, and delivery roadmaps backed up by stable funding plans and, where relevant, clarity of regulatory oversight. These are critical factors for the successful delivery of the policy aspirations and targets government has now provided.”

Armitt concludes: “2020’s policy statements set the bar high: 2021 must be a year of turning policy goals into delivery.”

Click here to download the NIC Annual Monitoring Report 2021