Scottish Water tops supply chain survey and Northumbrian best on innovation

Contractors, consultants and suppliers rated Scottish Water the best performing water and sewerage company in this year’s British Water water company performance survey, which has run since 2003.

Northumbrian was rated second overall and best on innovation, with Yorkshire Water in third place.

At the bottom of the table was Northern Ireland Water in 12th position, just beaten by South West Water in 11th and Southern Water in tenth.

Scottish Water put in a solid performance on contractual approach, collaboration and communication, and came overall top of the survey which scrutinised 12 areas.

In terms of area, water companies scored best on ‘following policy’ and ‘contractual approach’ and worst on ‘innovation' and ‘working digitally’.

Other company specific findings included:

• the most significant drop was Anglian Water, down from second place in 2022 to eighth in 2023; and

• the most significant rise was Severn Trent Water, which rose from tenth place last year to fifth in 2023.

British Water’s independent arm, the Water Industry Forum, is looking at the recommendations raised in British Water’s Supply Chain Task Force on innovation, cyclicality and procurement/T&Cs and will consider the areas highlighted in the most recent survey.