Resilience: who should decide and who should pay?

Research from The Water Report Expert Forum

This month The Water Report and Accent asked our Expert Forum – leaders and opinion formers from in and around the industry – who should take decisions on water sector resilience and who should pay. The findings back up calls from other quarters for the UK government to call the shots, though who should pick up the bill is less clean cut.

[if !supportLists]• [endif]59% of respondents identified the UK government as the stakeholder that should have the most influence on decisions on resilience. 17% named companies and 12% local government. Only 6% said customers should have the most influence on such decisions. Others cited included regulators, devolved governments and empowered third parties.

[if !supportLists]• [endif]Opinion was more divided on the matter of who should bear the cost of investment in resilience. Nearly half (47%) believed water customers should foot the lion’s share of the bill.However over a third (35%) said the lion’s share of the cost should be funded by the national taxpayer.

[if !supportLists]• [endif]Finally, we asked a series of questions around the resilience strategies being pursued by our respondent organisations. On the whole, responses indicate the water sector is active and aware on this crucial issue. 58% of respondents said they or their department had been asked to contribute to their organisation’s resilience plan this year; 76% within the last two years.

For full details, see November’s THE WATER REPORT