Water companies supply the majority of people with their water. Take a look at what they do to conserve water and plan for drought.
Leakage
Water companies are investing in long-term mains replacement programmes to reduce leakage. Ofwat release an annual report on leakage figures. They also monitor water companies that fail to meet their targets and work with them to help reduce leakage.
Find out more about Ofwat’s reporting on leakage:
Planning for a drought
The Water Act 2003 has made it a statutory requirement for water companies in England and Wales to prepare, maintain and publish drought plans. They must publicly consult on their draft drought plans. The Environment Agency provides detailed guidance for water companies on the content of drought plans and timings for the completion of each stage of the process. We will comment on the draft plans as one of the consultees. They then have to submit their plans to the Secretary of State or the Welsh Assembly Government. Following directions from the government they will then publish their final plans. These must be revised within 3 years and 6 months from the date of publication and submitted to the Secretary of State and Welsh Assembly Government.
All water companies have arrangements to collect, store and transfer water to cope with normal fluctuations in rainfall. If its resources start to diminish as a result of a drought, a company will implement it’s Drought Plan. This plan outlines a series of actions that a water company can take to effectively manage the water resources available during a drought. These actions generally include the following:
- Publicity campaign to increase awareness of the drought situation and reduce water demand
- Hosepipe ban
- Use of emergency river support schemes
- Non-essential use ban drought order
- Emergency drought orders (Standpipes, rota cuts and emergency licence variation)
