Drop-to-drop dot-to-dot

Policy makers and practitioners alike seem to agree on the need to connect up strategic water planning activities – but how?

Water systems are highly interconnected. They always have been, but have rarely been managed as such. Now, growing pressures on both natural and financial resources have coalesced to prompt everyone involved – from policy makers to practitioners – to get behind the twin ideas of bringing the pieces together and planning for the long term. 

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Organisational development director at Water Resources South East (WRSE), Trevor Bishop,  summarises the movement to what he calls “connect the dots”. Bishop says: “Water is part of a highly connected system, particularly in the South East. These connections between the different ways we interact with water – water quality, water resources, flood risk and many others – are becoming increasingly critical because we are effectively entering a new phase in terms of our relationship with water as a natural resource and a natural hazard.

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“In this phase we are already seeing an imbalance between environmental capacity and our needs in different parts of the water

cycle. This imbalance is set to increase with growth and be further exacerbated by climate change which is set to add layers of uncertainty

and greater extremes. Managing these connections well will enable us all to provide water services and outcomes with greater resilience and at better value for people and the environment. So it’s time for a change and joining the dots across strategic planning is just part of how we as a sector need to work smarter.” 

We are effectively entering a new phase in terms of our relationship with water

as a natural resource and a natural hazard.

High not dry

South East Water is building a strategy to deploy Temporary Use Bans in response to high demand events rather than water resource shortages.

Water company staff who have been on the sharp end of tabloid coverage of hosepipe bans, even as reservoir levels visibly dwindle, might marvel at South East Water for laying the groundwork to use Temporary Use Bans to manage spikes in demand rather than shortfalls in supply. But this year the company has been doing just that, as part of an innovative approach developed in response to pandemic-related demand shocks and in preparation for future demand stretches.

Few would disagree with the summary of South East Water’s head of water resources, Lee Dance, that 2020 was “a really weird year” – though he is talking specifically about water demand patterns. The company commissioned Artesia to map water use in its area through Covid restriction periods; this revealed household usage increased 15.9% in 2020/21, with 12.8% attributable to the pandemic and 3.1% to the hot dry weather. Covid was having a really big impact,” Dance recalls, and even with non household usage down 26.6%, the

company struggled to keep pace with demand in some specific areaswhere pinch points emerged. Dance reports that in fact, patterns were very Water Resource Zone specific, with some areas little different to normal and others (especially commuter areas) wildly changed as people worked from home, did different things at different times, and took staycations instead of holidays away. “

The system was creaking,” Dance says.. 

Greening priorities

Defra has added environmental enhancement to its strategic priorities for Ofwat.

The environmental priority was added to the the three existing (2017) priorities – for resilience, customer protection and markets. Citing “increasing pressure on our water environment” as well as shifting customer expectations, the SPS said: “Ofwat should drive water companies to be more ambitious in their environmental planning and delivery to contribute towards the priorities set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan (25YEP). Ofwat should drive water companies to improve their day to day environmental performance to enhance quality of the water environment.” 

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Under “a resilient water sector” the SPS said: “Ofwat should challenge the water sector to plan, invest and operate its water and wastewater services to secure the needs of current and future customers, in a way which delivers value to customers, the environment and wider society over the long term.” 

Time to separate

The marriage of rainwater and sewage in combined sewer systems has become unhappy. Separating flows is not the easiest path but will be better for the children than carbon-intensive, quick-fix spill quotas.

Storm overflows have been in operation and performing a useful function for decades (see box). But better data about how often and for how long they operate (on the back of a multi-million pound Event Duration Monitoring programme – all overflows are due to be monitored by December 2023); a fashion for wild swimming; and very vocal critics in the form of individuals, river user groups and environmental NGOs with significant social media reach have combined to ensure the unpalatable subject of raw sewage in rivers has touched a public nerve. 

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Guardian stories and Panorama have taken storm overflows mainstream. Politicians have piled in. There has been a recent Environmental Audit Committee inquiry; the creation of a Storm Overflows Taskforce; and proposed legislation (first a Private Member’s Bill and now as part of the Environment Bill). Even Ofwat has taken a recent interest in the topic that traditionally would sit more neatly under the environmental regulator’s remit – no doubt in part with an eye to the investment requirement

fallout for PR24. 

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