Revised Water Resource Management Plans include a mega reservoir and water recycling

Water companies last week submitted their revised draft Water Resources Management Plans (WRMPs), which included proposals for new reservoirs, desalination plants, water recycling plants, reservoir extensions, water transfers, leakage reduction initiatives and demand management proposals. These took on board feedback since the first drafts, as well as scheme developments and new government targets for leakage, per capita consumption and business demand reduction.

Thames Water’s plan, for instance, forecast a need for an additional 1bn litres of water a day by 2075, and looked to controversial infrastructure including a mega reservoir in Oxfordshire and a water recycling scheme in West London as part of the picture.

Some regional water resources groups also submitted their revised plans. Water Resources South East, for instance, submitted its plan to Defra to address a shortfall in water of up to 2.7bn litres a day by 2075.

National Infrastructure Commission chair, Sir John Armitt, said: “Our own modelling shows that cutting leaks and reducing demand alone isn’t sufficient: there has to be significant investment in a broad mix of new infrastructure – including reservoirs, transfer networks, recycling and desalination plants – to keep the taps from running dry and limit the damage to our environment from over extraction.

“We’ve already called for funding for new infrastructure and for leakage and demand reduction programmes to be included in Ofwat’s upcoming price review settlement. But with no new reservoirs built in the last three decades, there is a lot of catching up to do: that’s why reform of the planning system to reduce the time it takes for major projects to get planning consent cannot wait any longer. Without it, the infrastructure set out in these plans may not be in place by the 2030s, increasing the likelihood of more droughts like we saw last year and greater environmental damage.”

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