Utility Week

10 | 13TH - 19TH SEPTEMBER 2019 | UTILITY WEEK Utility of the Future: climate change Water resilience Action needed now to keep the taps running Without regional water transfers, investment in new reservoirs, and demand reduction the UK will face a water supply crisis in the next 25 years. Stephen Cousins reports. The Utility of the Future Utility Week is running a year-long campaign to tackle the difficult question of the future of the sector. The campaign pillars include: August/September: Climate change October: Regulation November/December: Business models and workforce Jan/February: Customers March/April: Technology Check utilityweek.co.uk for more campaign content. T he saying has it that "it never rains but it pours", but England's reputation for wet spells, drizzle and April showers belies the fact that its water supply system is under stress and the impacts of climate change and population growth threaten to push it to breaking point. Over half of summers are expected to be hotter than the 2003 heatwave by 2040, resulting in more water shortages, particularly in the drier south and east, and potentially 50-80 per cent less water in some rivers in the summer. The UK population is expected to rise from 67 million to 75 million by 2050, increasing demand for water, yet currently about one-third of water is lost to leaks or wastage and few households make sufficient efforts to conserve their water use. Environment Agency chief executive Sir James Bevan spelled out the severity of the situation in his keynote speech at the Waterwise conference in March, warning that as demand rises and sup- ply falls and the "effects of climate change kick in" the country will enter the "jaws of death". He suggested that England would run short of water within 25 years unless action was taken. Bevan called for measures to cut people's water use by one-third, and for leakage from water company pipes to be reduced by 50 per cent. He also wants new mega-reservoirs and desalina- tion plants built, and more cross-regional water transfers. Similar concerns are highlighted in the recent National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) report Preparing for a Drier Future, which sets out a blue- print for how government, water companies and the regulator should increase investment in sup- ply infrastructure and encourage more efficient water use. The paper estimates that the cost to the country of not taking action will be roughly double that of boosting supply resilience, and it asks government to implement plans for an additional 4,000 million litres a day (Ml/day) of supply by 2050. Some of its recommendations have already been taken up. The government and Ofwat have adopted the long-term target of cutting leakage by 50 per cent by 2050, and this will be built into the next round of water company Water Resource Management Plans. A number of regional groups have been set up to ramp-up efforts to collaborate to support water transfers between companies and regions. However, critics claim that much more needs to be done. Among their complaints are: that the government has yet to sign up to NIC's 4,000Ml/ day target; that water companies have a poor track continued overleaf "This national framework will model future water needs and set out an assessment of national and regional water needs." STUART SAMPSON, WATER MANAGER, ENVIRONMENT AGENCY Back to the future: the freakish droughts of the 1970s could become the new normal

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