Water and sewage plans – are companies listening?

Water and sewage plans – are companies listening?

On 2nd October water company business plans for 2025-2030 were submitted to Ofwat, who will scrutinise them to determine whether they represent value for money for water bill payers.

Earlier in the year, we asked you to have your say about water companies’ draft Water Resources Management plans. Six months on, these have been updated to final plans, alongside ‘Drainage and Wastewater Management’ plans – which focus on the dirty side of the water equation. These two plans form the basis for how water companies will manage water and sewage for the next five years and underpin the just-released business plans.

Below, we assesses the updated plans from Affinity Water, South East Water, Southern Water, SES Water and Thames Water – the companies operating across the South East Rivers Trust’s (SERT) area.

You can still have your say

We’re urging you to take further action to ensure these plans leave our rivers and the environment in a better state.

Now that plans have been submitted, Ofwat is encouraging you to continue to have your say and question the companies about the details.

This autumn, the companies will host Your Water, Your Say sessions (listed at the bottom of this blog). You will be able to speak to water company representatives, in groups and online, about their plans.

Alternatively, you can write to the Secretary of State for the Environment with your comments at water.resources@defra.gov.uk or fill in a survey about the plans, by 1st December.

What are these plans and why do we care?

Over abstraction affects rivers
Over abstraction from rivers for our water supplies affects wildlife

Water Resources Management Plans (WRMPs) set out how water of sufficient quantity and quality will be supplied to the population for the next 50 years.

This is a massive challenge in the south east, where we face a shortfall of 2.6 billion litres if nothing is done.

The WRMPs include plans to build new ‘supply schemes’ such as reservoirs, water recycling plants and water transfers from other regions, as well as ‘demand measures’ – for example by fixing leaks and encouraging wise water use – to reduce water use per person.

 

At SERT, we care about these plans because ultimately water for use in our homes and businesses is pumped from rivers and groundwater aquifers, which also feed many waterways and their habitats. As climate change bites and the population grows, demand for water is increasing; if water resources are not managed appropriately, rivers and wetland environments will suffer.

Meanwhile, Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans (DWMPs) set out how sewer and drainage systems will be upgraded to cope with population growth and peaks in surface water as rainstorms become more frequent and intense with climate change.

Clearly, the current sewage treatment system isn’t fit for purpose, with raw sewage spilling into rivers and coastal areas on a near daily basis. SERT wants the DWMPs to ensure sewage systems are upgraded at pace and measures are implemented to slow the flow of stormwater into sewers and prevent sewer overflows. This is the first time that water companies have been obliged to develop DWMPs and we welcome their existence.

Do the updated plans respond to our calls for change?

Earlier in the year, we responded to consultations on the WRMPs, and a year ago to consultations on the DWMPs.

Leakage – some improved promises made

SERT, along with many customers and stakeholders, have urged the water companies to do more to tackle leakage.

Water companies in the region are aiming for the government’s target of 50% leakage reduction by 2050, but now with additional interim targets: 20% by 2027 and 30% by 2032.

Thames Water loses around a quarter of the water it puts into supply through leakage; it is particularly encouraging to see an increase in ambition since their draft plan, which only aimed for a 16% reduction by 2030.

We challenged SES Water to roll out ‘smart’ water meters to all customers, household and non-household, by 2030.

We are delighted the company has committed to doing so. Smart meters will help to quickly identify leaks in homes, schools and other buildings.

Leaks from plumbing in homes and buildings, including ‘leaky loos’, currently account for about a third of leakage. Meters will also help customers use water more wisely.

Per person targets for water standardised

Many respondents to the WRMP consultations, including SERT, urged water companies to have stronger targets for personal consumption of water use. We said that Thames Water’s aim that people should use only 123 litres per person per day lacked ambition, particularly when other water companies in the region were going further.

Therefore we are pleased that all water company plans now meet the Government target of 110 litres per person per day – and with new interim targets.

Water use per person targets have been standardised
All water companies have adjusted ‘per person’ water use targets to align with Government aims

For non-household water users – such as businesses, schools, hospitals – water companies are now aligning with the government’s new Environment Improvement Plan target of a 15% reduction in water use by 2050. South East Water, for example, is aiming to achieve this through smart metering for business customers, alongside water efficiency audits and measures to support reductions in water use.

This is welcome given the significant number of ‘thirsty’ businesses in their area, including fruit farms and golf courses.

While it is positive that water companies have stepped up their demand management strategies in response to customer and stakeholder pressure, companies are admitting that the new targets are challenging. Meeting them will require ‘fresh thinking’ and innovative approaches and will rely heavily on the pace of government-led interventions, such as introducing water efficiency labelling on showers and toilets.

Improved positions on reducing unsustainable abstraction

Water company management plans have set targets to reduce extractions
Drought scenes like these will become common without proper plans to supply sufficient water

SERT, alongside many others, supported the most ambitious reductions in water abstraction, particularly from sensitive rivers and aquifers that feed rare chalk streams. We also challenged water companies to increase the pace of abstraction reductions and ensure a robust approach to prioritising them.

So, we are pleased to see that the regional water resources plan looks to deliver reductions more quickly and that further work on prioritisation will be carried out with stakeholders such as ourselves.

In Thames Water’s plan, while we are supportive of abstraction reductions in the Darent valley, we would like to see abstraction reductions in the upper Darent advanced more quickly – this river has been over-abstracted for decades. In the Hogsmill, an over-abstracted chalk stream in south east London, SES Water and Thames Water have been undertaking investigations to establish the effect of abstraction reductions on stream flow.

It is clear there would be a flow benefit of reducing abstraction from the Hogsmill, and we welcome Thames Water’s proposal to reduce abstraction by 10.2 megalitres per day. We urge that this is implemented as soon as possible. We recognise that the shortfall in supply needs to be met but hope that the companies will consider the extra water that would be delivered to London via the Hogsmill itself if flows were increased.

Water supply schemes – big projects going ahead, but…

Improving the size or reservoirs or building more is one solution to water management
Improving the size or reservoirs or building more is one solution to water management

While curbing leakage and encouraging wise use of water will be crucial for addressing our water scarcity challenge, the deficit cannot be met entirely with these ‘demand measures’ – water supply solutions will also be needed.

For this reason, we are supportive of reservoir schemes being progressed in the next water company business plans. These include South East Water’s Broad Oak reservoir in Kent and extending Arlington reservoir in Sussex – provided that they are built on the basis of beneficial or negligible impacts to local freshwater habitats.

The long-proposed reservoir near Abingdon in Oxfordshire (Thames Water) is also being progressed, at the larger size of 150 million cubic meters. Despite local opposition, many customers and stakeholders recognise its importance in securing the south east’s water supplies for future generations. From SERT’s perspective, it will also facilitate reducing unsustainable abstraction from sensitive freshwater habitats such as chalk stream headwaters.

We do have concerns about some of the other water resources schemes being proposed, including the Teddington Direct River Abstraction on the Thames, where there are still questions about the impact on the river ecology.

Thames Water insists that the scheme meets the ‘required level of protection set out by the Environment Agency’ and say that the company is conducting more detailed studies and working with the community to understand and address concerns.

Value of nature-based solutions has been recognised 

Nature based solutions in the landscape
Nature-based solutions help retain water in the landscape for longer and increase biodiversity

Catchment and nature-based solutions are approaches that work with the landscape to retain more water in soils and wetlands.

They allow rainwater to infiltrate into soils and aquifers, replenishing water sources rather than rainwater rushing off the land to cause pollution and flooding.

These approaches offer additional benefits, including increasing habitat for wildlife and carbon sequestration, as well as better value compared to ‘grey’, engineered solutions such as storage tanks and drains.

Encouragingly, after the draft WRMPs only contained one such catchment scheme between them – which was hugely disappointing – last-minute changes to guidance enabled 73 schemes across 24 catchments to be entered into the revised plans.

Sewer overflows action still too slow

A sewage outfall
A sewage outfall © South East Rivers Trust

We welcome the existence of Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans (DWMPs) for the first time.

The targets in the individual DWMPs from each company reflect what has been set out in the Government’s Storm (sewage) Overflow Reduction Plan and in the Defra Plan for Water, published in April this year.

The Government’s plans – if met – mean that 52% of such sewage overflows would be improved by 2040 and all by 2050.

We feel these timelines are too slow. We want cleaner rivers to enjoy now, not in 25 years.

These timelines are also off track to achieve the Water Framework Directive, which requires all rivers to reach Good Ecological Status by 2027 – sewage overflows currently account for 12% of rivers not achieving Good Ecological Status.

We welcome the accelerated rate of tackling sewage overflows in the Thames Water DWMP – with 51% of overflows being improved by 2035. The plan also includes upgrades to 30 sewage treatment works across the Thames Valley by 2030, and the investigation of options for a new sewage treatment plant in the London area.

Southern Water’s DWMP will reduce the use of all their 979 sewer overflows to less than 10 times per year, but only by 2050. However, by 2030 they have committed to reducing the number of spills from sewer overflows by 80%. They say they will start by tackling the overflows that release close to high priority sites, such as shellfish waters, between 2025 and 2030, and bathing sites by 2035.

We welcome the drive in the DWMPs towards nature-based solutions. Southern Water is prioritising the use of these solutions over ‘grey’, engineered solutions to address sewer overflows. There are wildlife, amenity and carbon benefits to these approaches, as well as cost savings: Thames Water says that its plan, which also prioritises nature-based solutions, is two-thirds the cost of a ‘grey-only’ plan.

Verdict

Overall, while we still think some elements of the plans could be fast-tracked, we welcome the increase in ambition since the draft plans.

The business plans amount to £96 billion of investment across England, which is desperately needed to keep our rivers clean and flowing and to ensure plentiful water supplies.

It’s important that customer money is used transparently, responsibly and cost effectively. This is why we urge water companies and government to prioritise nature-based solutions, which offer good value for money, as well as improved resilience to floods and droughts – and benefits for nature.

These should be delivered in partnership with local environmental NGOs that have the expertise and local connection to rivers.

What YOU can still do

Water companies have to demonstrate customer support for their business plans. To enhance and maintain the environmental ambition of these plans in the face of government push back, it’s important that you, as water customers, make your voice heard.

The five-year Business Plans were sent to Ofwat on 2nd October.
Here are the links to the 2025-2030 plan for the five companies in SERT’s area.

Affinity Water

SES Water

South East Water

Southern Water

Thames Water

Each company is now offering an online Your Water, Your Say session to allow customers and stakeholders to challenge the plans.

We urge you to join these sessions to voice your support for:

  • ambitious abstraction reduction targets
  • increasing the pace of tackling sewer overflows
  • prioritising the use of nature-based solutions.

The dates are as follows (known links provided):

Affinity Water Wednesday 18th October 6pm
SES Water Thursday 16th November 6pm
South East Water Tuesday 31st October 6pm
Southern Water Monday 27th November 6pm
Thames Water, Thursday 30th November 5pm

See our attached document for questions you can ask your water company, along with general ones for each supplier.

 

 

 

 

 

Nature-based solutions safari inspires others to scale up

One day in spring, in the middle of the woods of deepest darkest Kent, the South East Rivers Trust led a ‘safari’  to discover  the value of nature-based solutions in increasing the resilience of our catchments and communities.

During the past few years, the South East Rivers Trust (SERT) has been developing  a series of nature-based solutions for water with landowners in  the Upper Beult Farm Cluster in Kent. Nature-based solutions for water (NbS for water) are features that hold back water in the landscape, slowing it down and filtering it so that water resources are replenished and flooding and pollution is reduced. These NbS include leaky woody dams, offline ponds and pasture management.

Explorers from a range of organisations navigated woods, wetlands and farmland to spot and learn about these NbS, covering four farms of the Upper Beult farm cluster.

Wetland restoration scene
A wetland restoration scene on the nature-based solutions safari © South East Rivers Trust

So what was the purpose of this ‘NbS Safari’?

Firstly, it was to demonstrate how these solutions can underpin water resources provision, as well as achieve nature recovery and other social and environmental benefits.

Secondly, we wanted our guests to imagine what benefits could be achieved if these NbS could be “scaled up”, such as across the whole of the River Medway catchment, of which the Beult is just one part.

Finally, we were keen to spark thought and discussion among our guests about potential partnerships and support that could facilitate this ambition.

The 30-strong party of intrepid NbS explorers were led by Kathi Bauer, SERT’s Senior Natural Capital Officer – and the list of organisations represented was a long one. It included staff from Southern Water, which has supported the development of the NbS with the Upper Beult farming cluster.

Others interested to find out more came from SES Water, the Upper Medway Internal Drainage Board, Water Resources South East, Kent County Council, Kent Wildlife Trust, Waitrose, Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF), the Marden farming cluster, the Forestry Commission and Swale Borough Council.

The safari showcased work that we had initiated through our Interreg2Seas PROWATER project, and further work we have continued with Southern Water’s support. These efforts were the culmination of several years’ work. As we outlined earlier this year, the PROWATER project alone has helped retain more than 60 million litres of water (enough to fill 24 Olympic sized swimming pools) annually.

Kathi explained how we had worked closely with farmers and landowners. She outlined how we had used our expertise to identify, develop and implement appropriate NbS to regulate the flow of water at appropriate locations in the upper catchment of the Beult.

What types of nature-based solutions were explored?

Leaky Woody Dams (right)
Leaky Woody Dams, like the one pictured on the right, slow the flow of water, holding it in the landscape © South East Rivers Trust

Leaky woody dams were a key solution spotted on the safari: by placing branches and logs across channels and land where water is known to flow, water is held back and “spills” from the channels to create a small wetland.  The result is that instead of heavy rainfall running straight off the land, its movement is more gradual. This means its contribution to the flow of the River Beult (an important source for water supply) is spread across many more months of the year.

Holding water in the landscape in this way also means creating richer and more diverse habitat, attracting vegetation, invertebrates and birds that feed on them.

Offline ponds – separated from the river network – were also part of the safari. Offline ponds can be created in natural depressions in the land where water is directed using leaky woody dams. By retaining water, they supplement the Beult’s summer flows and also boost plant and invertebrate  biodiversity.

Pasture Management – the benefits of mob grazing were also outlined as part of the safari. If cattle feed on small sections of their grazing land one piece at a time,  grass and other vegetation is able to recover and establish.  Water soaks into the soil better, with benefits including slowing the run-off of rainwater and pasture that is more resilient to drought.

Nature-based Solution visitors standing in one of the areas used for mob grazing
Nature-based Solution visitors standing in one of the areas used for mob grazing © South East Rivers Trust

Together, these nature-based solutions are managing the landscape for water and helping to address water scarcity in the south east, while also providing a range of additional benefits including natural habitat improvements. These solutions are therefore key to reversing the declining trend in biodiversity. According to the Natural History Museum, the world has already gone through the “safe limit for humanity” of biodiversity loss. The UK, its analysis says, has an average of only 53% of its biodiversity left and is in the bottom 10% of countries globally – and last among the G7 countries.

Multiple nature-based solutions all add up, which is central to the Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) principal of managing landscapes as a whole, rather than as separate sections of river or land in isolation.

This is central to our thinking at SERT and something with which those on this NbS Safari agreed: we need to make more of this happen.

For more information and to get in touch about developing nature-based solutions in the landscape, contact Cat Moncrieff, our Head of Water and Land Stewardship. Contact us at info@southeastriverstrust.org or by telephone, on 0845 092 0110.

Have your say on your local water company’s five-year plan

Every five years, water companies in England are required to produce a Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP), which outlines how they intend to meet the expected water demands not just in the next five years but over the next 50 in their respective service areas.

These plans take into account increasing population, climate change and growing risks of drought – while also protecting and enhancing the local environment.

An important part of the WRMP plans is customer feedback on topics which concern them most. They are currently in draft form and out for public consultation.