Yorkshire Water has said its chosen solution to close the supply-demand deficit projected in its current Water Resource Management Plan (WRMP19) which forecasts supply and demand from 2020 to 2045 is to reduce demand through increased leakage detection and repair activity.
The water company’s preferred option is included in its Draft Trading And Procurement Code setting out potential water trading options which has been published for consultation by Ofwat.
Ofwat introduced water trading incentives at the 2014 price review to encourage water trading between water companies. The companies can only receive the water trading incentives if they produce and are compliant with a trading and procurement code approved by the water sector regulator.
The water company already trades with neighbouring water companies via:
- a bulk transfer agreement with Severn Trent Water to receive around 50 Ml/d of untreated water
- an export to Anglian Water of 0.3Ml/d of treated water to the Anglian region.
Yorkshire Water has also further discussed both imports and exports, resulting in feasible options for import agreements with Northumbrian Water and United Utilities, together with potential export agreements with United Utilities and Severn Trent Water.
The utility’s current Water Resource Management Plan (WRMP19) which forecasts supply and demand from 2020 to 2045, has identified a risk that climate change will reduce average rainfall, leading to more frequent and more severe dry periods which will impact on future supply availability.
Yorkshire Water says this creates a risk that without intervention that the supply-demand balance in the largest of its two water resource zones, will fall into deficit. The interconnected Grid Surface Water Zone (Grid SWZ), which covers the majority of the water company’s region, including over 99% of its supply area, will be in deficit in 2035/36 by 6.49Ml/d, increasing year on year to 33.97Ml/d by 2044/45 if it does not invest in additional supply or demand reduction.
According to the Draft Code, Yorkshire Water’s preferred option is to make better use of the water available, rather than increasing abstraction or making large investments in new assets.
The water company’s chosen solution to close the deficit in WRMP19 is to reduce demand through increased leakage detection and repair activity - the WRMP19 sets out measures to reduce annual leakage by 40% by 2025. Yorkshire Water said this will require “new and innovative leakage detection measures” and will reduce its current annual leakage target by 112Ml/d from 287Ml/d to 175Ml/d by 2025/26.
In addition to trading with other water companies, Yorkshire Water will consider entering into agreements with private abstraction licence holders willing to trade licensed volumes. It also plans to invest in two borehole sources to increase resilience to future outage risks.
Following the conclusion of the consultation the Draft Code will either be approved by Ofwat or the regulator will provide reasons for not approving it.
Deadline to submit responses to the consultation is 3 September 2018 – click here to access the Draft Code.
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