Southern Water’s  Water Resources & Drought Strategy which sets out plans to secure healthy, reliable drinking water supplies for its customers for the next 25 years, has been given the green light by the Government.

As well as planning for more extreme weather, the strategy also sets out how the company will meet the challenges of population and housing growth and potential reductions in licences to abstract water from rivers and groundwater in the South East.

The company said the Strategy uses an industry-leading modelling technique to plan for the droughts of tomorrow which could be more severe than those experienced in the past.

Meyrick Gough, Water Resources Manager at Southern Water, said:

“We are delighted to have the go-ahead from the Government to publish our final plan, which has been developed over three years following extensive consultation with our customers and other interested parties.

“We are the only water company to use this innovative modelling technique to formulate our plan, which will ensure we can continue to secure reliable water supplies in the future, even if we experience droughts more severe than those we have seen before and which last a number of years.”

Until now, water companies have based their plans to secure water on the last 120 years of rainfall records, which include about five significant droughts. Each of these droughts was different and had a different impact on the water sources that supply customers.

Southern Water said the limitation of this approach is that the water industry only plans for droughts after they have happened.

The new approach, which was developed with the Universities of East Anglia and Newcastle, allows the company to plan for the ‘what ifs’ of the future.

Chris Kilsby, Professor of Climate Change and Hydrology at Newcastle University, said:

“The South East is classed as an area of serious water stress and it is only a matter of time before we see a drought more serious than those seen in the past.

“Southern Water is getting on the front foot by using advanced techniques to help understand future weather patterns and the droughts of tomorrow.”

Southern Water has included schemes for water re-use, aquifer storage and recovery and desalination in its plans, which will help develop a network resilient to future droughts.

The strategy also includes schemes to reduce leaks from water mains and water efficiency to help customers, schools and businesses save water, energy and money.

Overall the approach will reduce the likelihood of water restrictions, such as hosepipe bans, to once every 10 years on average.

Click here to download the Strategy