South West and South East top Blueprint For Water’s PR19 green scorecard

South West Water was the top performing water and sewerage company, and South East Water the top performing water only company, in Blueprint For Water’s assessment of how well PR19 business plans reflect the 17 environmental asks it identified in May 2017.

South West was closely followed by Anglian Water and Northumbrian Water in joint second place, and Wessex Water in third, in the WASC ranking. Of the water only firms, SES Water came second and Bristol and Affinity joint third.

The coalition of green NGOs also considered whether company Performance Commitments (PCs) reflected its priorities for securing a better environment for wildlife and people.South West Water, Southern Water and Northumbrian Water were joint first of the WASCs and South East and Bristol joint first of the WOCs in terms of the level of ambition of their common PCs most relevant to the environmental asks. Southern Water and Wessex Water of the WASCs and South East of the WOCs had the greatest number and coverage of relevant bespoke PCs.

Overall, Blueprint For Water said there had been “a positive step change in environmental ambition from the water sector in this planning cycle compared to PR14 business plans”. It wanted more to be done on areas including per capita consumption, planning based on natural capital, company advocacy on green policy issues and commitment to zero pollution incidents. “Additionally, we look forward to the development of water companies’ first drainage and wastewater management plans and we hope that they make further commitments towards reducing pollution and the frequency of combined sewer overflows.”