Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 2ND - 8TH MARCH 2018 | 19 Policy & Regulation Making sure we value what matters NI Water has been making infrastructure more visible and valued – because life relies on it. Chief executive's view Sara Venning, Northern Ireland Water M uch of what Northern Ireland Water delivers takes place under- ground or out of sight. This is in contrast with other forms of infrastructure on which we drive, ride or fly. It is oen the case that our unseen water and wastewater infrastructure only becomes seen when it fails. It then becomes apparent how much every aspect of life relies on what we deliver. NI Water has been focusing on how to make our infrastruc- ture more visible and valued. We want stakeholders to understand why the company exists, to join us in celebrating our progress, to be our ambassadors and collaborate with us. We believe that NI Water exists to provide the water for life we all rely on to thrive. We want to support a thriving population, economy and envi- ronment. To do so, we must grow value and trust by looking beyond the traditional focus on financial capital and ensure that our decisions sustainably grow all forms of capital. To be valued and trusted, every aspect of our business needs to be world class, from how we produce and recy- cle water to how our back office functions operate. Over the past decade, we have been leading the challenge on doing more for customers with fewer resources. We have trans- formed the delivery of water and wastewater services, delivering record levels of service for our customers and reaching levels of efficiency on par with some of the leading water companies in England and Wales. However, as a government- owned company, NI Water is not immune from public expendi- ture cuts. This places progress on efficiencies at risk and could result in tangible impacts on ser- vice delivery, the local economy and the environment. Our desire is for the company to be funded by central government rather than compete with other forms of infrastructure such as roads and transport for a funding allocation. We celebrated this "Decade of Delivery" with a series of events over 2017 in an attempt to make the unseen seen. The celebra- tions included an exciting and informative trade show at Stor- mont's Long Gallery, our Step into Spring event at NI Water's iconic Silent Valley, tours around 20 treatment works and our employee Recognition Awards at Titanic Belfast. Getting our stakeholders to be ambassadors can be a really effective means of communi- cating the value created by our activities. We recognise that young people are oen among the most committed ambas- sadors and our double-decker Water Bus has visited 100,000 primary school pupils over the past ten years. Our customers have an important ambassadorial role to play and sometimes it requires a slightly different communication approach. With this in mind, NI Water unveiled its new bottled brand of water, Mourne Water, to shoppers in a busy Northern Ire- land supermarket. Having asked where the refreshing Mourne Water was available to buy, the taste testers were shocked to find out it was tap water. By collaborating with our local universities and other stakeholders, we have been able to communicate the value our investment plays in under- pinning economic growth and pool resources to secure future investment. Through collabora- tion with the Ulster University Business School it is estimated that we are creating a £2.5 billion "ripple effect" over the current price control period. Collabora- tion with Irish Water and other partners resulted in a successful application for €40.2 million of EU Interreg funding for cross- border projects. The work undertaken to com- municate the value we deliver has helped gain backing from our stakeholders to take oppor- tunities that create further value. This was recently demonstrated in November 2017, when we acquired Kelda Water Services' holdings in four treatment plants that provide almost half of the treated water in Northern Ire- land. The acquisition will allow NI Water to generate value from the project that will feed through to customers by way of reduced water tariffs and reduced public expenditure budgetary requirements. Looking forward, NI Water is a proud partner of NI Year of Infrastructure 2018, which aims to raise awareness of how infra- structure underpins every aspect of our lives.

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