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12 | Our draft Water Resources Management Plan: Overview and consultation

Our performance
Although our current performance is good, and built on a strong legacy, there are pressures on our water resources.

Technical terms

Since the privatisation of the water industry in 1989, we have invested over 8.5 billion (in todays prices) transforming drinking water quality and standards and cutting leakage to its lowest-ever level. Recent performance Our current investment in water services is around 300 million a year. Coupled with our commitment to good operational performance, this has helped to deliver the service required by our regulators and customers: The water industry uses the Security of Supply Index (SOSI) to assess our ability to supply customers at our target levels of service in dry years without imposing restrictions such as temporary use bans. Between 2005 and 2012 our score increased from 22 to a maximum possible score of 100 out of 100. A score of 100 indicates that we will meet the levels of service listed on page 6. It does not mean that restrictions on water use will never be required. If we do nothing, climate change and population growth is likely to lead to a reduction in this rating.

Aquifer storage allows us to deposit water in natural underground reservoirs, which function as a water bank. We can store water in times of surplus and remove it when required. Megalitres per day (Ml/d): One megalitre equals one million litres (1,000 cubic metres). Desalination is a process in which salt is removed from tidal or sea water to produce drinking water. Security of supply refers to the reliability or surety of meeting agreed levels of service on water supply (see page 6).

Leakage has been reduced by 26 per cent since 2005. We have achieved our regulatory leakage target for each of the last seven years. This has helped reduce the volume of water we need to put into supply. We have achieved this in part by replacing the oldest and leakiest of our mains, nearly a quarter of which date back to Victorian times. Our programme to encourage the efficient use of water has exceeded our annual regulatory target for the past three years. In 2012 we achieved a National Water Efficiency Award from the Environment Agency. We still have much work to do, as our customers on average consume more water per head than people in other parts of the UK. We have seen a gradual increase in metering as we continue to install meters for customers who request one, and to all new properties.Water meters provide an important tool, enabling us to monitor demand and see where water is being used in our network. This helps identify leaks and encourages customers to reduce their water use.

Figure 4 Key statistics from 2005 to 2012


Source: June Return/Annual Returns from 2005 to 2012

2005/06 Reliability (SOSI score) Volume into supply Leakage (actual performance) Population Household metering Energy (water service) cost (m) usage (KWh) 22 out of 100 2,797 Ml/d 862Ml/d 8.2m 21% 29.5m 545,000

2008/09 56 out of 100 2,574 Ml/d 698Ml/d 8.6m 26% 40.8m 507,747

2011/12 100 out of 100 2,551Ml/d 637Ml/d 8.9m 30.3% 45.3m 491,434

Our draft Water Resources Management Plan: Overview and consultation | 13

In 2010 we opened the UKs first large-scale desalination plant in east London. In times of drought or other emergency, this new resource enables us to take water from the tidal Thames and remove the salt to produce drinking water. We also have a programme to provide an additional 28 megalitres per day (Ml/d) of water through the development of small groundwater abstraction schemes by 2015. This performance has been achieved against a backdrop of increasing pressures on water resources and cost. For instance, since 2005 our population has increased by 9 per cent and our energy costs have increased by 50 per cent, despite our power usage falling by 10 per cent.

Strong legacy In common with other areas of infrastructure, we are fortunate to be able to rely on a strong legacy left to us by past generations. We benefit both from the foresight of their designs and the high standards to which they worked. Approximately 70 per cent of our water comes from rivers. We take water when river flows are high and store it in our reservoirs. This storage of water provides us with a degree of resilience when river flows are low or are of poor water quality. Reservoir storage has been a significant factor in ensuring that we have so far been able to maintain a reliable supply. Other major factors have been our more recent

development of the London Ring Main to improve connectivity around the capital, our desalination plant and aquifer storage schemes to provide extra water during drought conditions, and our ongoing leakage reduction programme. In the following sections we look at our current resilience, future forecasts and the regional picture to understand how we can best plan for the future.

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