Business market neglected in water resource plans

Environmental coalition, Blueprint for Water, and water market operator MOSL have separately criticised water companies’ draft statutory Water Resource Management Plans (WRMPs) and draft regional water resource management plans for a poor show in terms of ambition on the non-household (NHH) retail market.

MOSL said the plans underplay the needs and potential of the business market. While it welcomed the commitment to roll out business smart meters in some plans, it said on the whole that it was “disappointed by the lack of acknowledgement of the role of the NHH market in reducing water consumption and the lack of detail or targets”.

In a series of letters to wholesaler chief executives, MOSL chief executive, Sarah McMath, called for clear recognition in the final plans of the importance of the NHH market and the role it has to play to deliver Defra’s target to reduce NHH demand by 9% by 2038. She also asked wholesalers to clarify their commitments around NHH smart metering and water efficiency.

Blueprint for Water called the plans “hugely disappointing” on NHH demand. In a blog, members said: “They show little appreciation of where and how this water is being used and most have very little activity or investment planned to specifically help NHH users save water. There is a big gap between what the government and regulators expect and what the most of the draft plans will deliver which needs to be bridged before the final plans are published.”

Elsewhere the Blueprint blog included the following points.

Per capita consumption (PCC)

While most companies and regions are targeting close to the 110 litres PCC by 2050 specified by Defra, Blueprint urged them to go further and target 100 litres and told Defra to “step up” to enable the reductions through policy support for labelling and building standards.

Leakage

Blueprint found leakage reduction on track and further big reductions targeted. However it urged water firms to do more to help find and stop customer side leaks.

Environmental needs

All plans are expected to meet the requirements of the Habitats Regulations and the Water Framework Directive with respect to existing abstractions. But in terms of meeting future environmental needs, Blueprint urged that the precautionary principle be adopted with action taken on the ground in the next five years and decisions on further licence reductions to meet the needs of the environment into the future made by 2030.

New development

"We believe the plans should promote a position where any large scale water-hungry developments should be water neutral, particularly in areas with water deficits and where abstraction licences are being capped or reduced to protect the environment.”

Blueprint for Water also highlighted the “stark variation between plans in terms of formatting, readability and overall quality as a publication.” It said the best plans, such as those from WRSE and WRW, were accessible and engaging, “without concealing crucial information in the annexes”. In contrast: “As it stands, the formatting and style of several plans has meant that they are progressing relatively unchallenged. For example, WReN’s draft plan fails to present its content in an easily accessible format and will require substantial restructuring in order to achieve this.”

The coalition further criticised the staggered release of plans, with delays in some instances resulting from shortfalls in regulatory expectations. Blueprint said: “Failing to meet the target release date is unacceptable. Penalties should be levied if this is repeated.”