Northern Ireland Water consults on first combined resource and drought plan

Northern Ireland Water has published for consultation a draft Water Resource and Supply Resilience Plan (WR&SRP) which includes a drought plan which is the “first plan of its kind” to be published by the publicly-owned water provider.

The proposed drought plan includes “the consideration of hosepipe bans and non-essential use restrictions” according to the draft WR&SRP. And it sets out the actions Northern Ireland Water anticipates as “required to maintain supplies with the minimum impact on customers and the environment.”

Legislation introduced in 2016 permits NI Water to combine its water Resource Management Plan (WRMP) and its drought plan into a single WR&SRP. Prior to 2016 Northern Ireland Water was required by law to produce a WRMP and a drought plan separately.

The draft WR&SRP takes 2014/15 as its base year and has a planning horizon of 2042/43 for the Water Resource

Management element. Its existing Water Resource Management Plan

Northern Ireland Water has reported “a significant decrease” of 107Ml/d to 570 Ml/d since 2008/09 achieved through dry year uplift assessment (38 Ml/d), reduced household and non-household demand (55 Ml/d) and reduced

leakage (14 Ml/d).