South East Water has published the final version of the company’s Drought Plan which outlines the actions the water company will take before, during and after periods of drought to supply its customers with water.

Written following widespread consultation, the plan details what actions will be taken to conserve water and secure customers’ supplies, while balancing the needs of the environment.

The actions include:

• Moving water around the network
• Fast-tracking schemes to increase water resources
• Working even harder to fix leaks
• Promoting sensible water use
• Introduction of temporary water use restrictions - commonly known as hosepipe bans.

Lee Dance, Head of Water Resources, South East Water, said:

“Drought plans, cover a five year period and form part of our back-up programme for managing resources through extremely dry periods such as drought. Our first one was written on a voluntary basis almost 20 years ago in 2003.

“The consultation period with key stakeholders and local interest groups has proved extremely useful in drawing on the expertise of many wide-ranging organisations to give us an agreed plan in place to work together to beat future droughts.

The south east is one of the driest parts of England and designated as an area of ‘serious water stress’. Autumn and winter rain is relied on to recharge groundwater aquifers, restore river flows and refill reservoirs which will be low if there is a very dry winter.

Lee Dance added:

“This makes it harder to meet the demand for water, especially if the following summer is hot and dry. We cannot control the weather but we can all use water wisely. This will help us to be more resilient during periods of prolonged dry weather.”

The document is the water company’s tactical operational plan for dry weather and drought which details the range of management, operational and communications actions the utility will consider as the severity of a drought increases and then recedes.

South East Water monitors a number of indicators of drought risk for resource-led droughts:

• Groundwater
• Surface water
• Groundwater recharge
• Demand
• Override triggers – bulk supplies and transfers

As a result of lessons learnt from 2018 and 2020 where South East Water experienced a sharp increase in peak demand, the water company now tracks and forecasts peak summer demand and compare to trigger levels for demand to consider demand-led droughts.

The plan is accompanied by a series of detailed supporting documents and appendices, including a document setting out the water company’s proposals drought management and extreme drought management options.

Extreme drought management actions include:

• Cape Town ‘Day Zero’ communications
• Pressure management
• Small desalination units
• Water trades and transfers
• Potable water tankering (sea
• Potable water tankering (road)
• Catchment actions
• Tankering from effluent of sources for users who can meet their operational demands with lower non-potable water quality pressure management

Click here to download the main report                    

Click here to access the accompanying Appendices