The Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development (RAPID) has this week received submissions for 15 strategic water resource schemes from nine English water companies, including proposals for new water resources and inter-regional water transfers.
Established in 2019, the RAPID partnership consists of water regulators Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the Drinking Water Inspectorate, with Natural Resources Wales involved in an advisory capacity.
Image source: Ofwat
The water companies now have ring-fenced funding of £469 million to develop Strategic Resource Options to be ‘construction ready’ for the 2025-2030 AMP8 investment period. The water sector is also establishing arrangements for strategic regional planning to deliver future water needs for England, in particular through regional planning groups.
"Submissions for gate one are a significant milestone for the RAPID programme"
RAPID Managing Director, Paul Hickey commented:
"The submissions for gate one are a significant milestone for the RAPID programme. RAPID will assess how the proposed solutions contribute to resilient water supplies that enhance the environment, deliver value for money, meet the needs of public health and protects customers over the long term. Working with the partner regulators (EA, DWI and Ofwat) as well as CCW, Natural Resources Wales and Natural England, the schemes will be assessed with draft recommendations being published in November 2021. RAPID is committed to making the assessment process transparent to stakeholders."
Gate one submissions
RAPID’s role in the gated process (working with the partner regulators and Natural Resources Wales) is to assess the progress made in development of each solution and to provide advice and recommendations to enable Ofwat to make decisions on continued funding for progression of the solutions.
The following decisions will be made at gate one:
- whether solution and options within it should progress to gate two;
- applying incentives and allowable costs;
- whether alternative and/ or additional solutions should enter the process;
- and what is required for gate two submissions.
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COMPANY |
PROJECT SOLUTION |
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Affinity Water and Anglian Water |
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Anglian Water and Cambridge Water (South Staffs Water) |
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| Affinity Water, Severn Trent Water and Canal & River Trust | |
|
Thames Water |
|
|
Severn Trent and Affinity Water |
|
|
United Utilities, Severn Trent and Thames Water |
|
|
Severn Trent |
|
|
Affinity Water and Thames Water |
|
|
Affinity Water and Anglian Water |
|
|
Affinity Water and Thames Water |
|
|
Thames Water and Southern Water |
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|
United Utilities |
|
|
United Utilities |
|
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Southern Water, South West Water and Wessex Water |
|
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Southern Water, South West Water and Wessex Water |
The purpose of the gated process is to ensure at each gate that:
- companies are progressing strategic water resource solutions that have been allocated funding at PR19;
- costs incurred in doing so are efficient; and
- solutions merit continued investigation and development during the period 2020 to 2025.
RAPID - Gate 1 timeline 2021
5 July - Companies (jointly where appropriate) submit gate 1 submissions to RAPID for review
5 July - 9 August - Assessment Process by RAPID
14 September - Ofwat publishes draft decision
8 October – deadline for submission of representations on draft decision
16 November - Ofwat publishes final decision on funding for Gate 2
The proposed schemes include:
Minworth: A source of raw water flow augmentation to support either the Severn to Thames Transfer (STT) SRO, the Grand Union Canal (GUC) SRO, or a combination of the two.
Grand Union Canal (GUC): An option that utilises the existing canal infrastructure to transfer treated wastewater from Severn Trent’s Minworth in the Midlands to Affinity in Hertfordshire and northwest London.
Southeast Strategic Reservoir: a proposed reservoir located near Abingdon (Oxfordshire) offering storage and a resilient supply to the River Thames during periods of low flow, for subsequent re-abstraction in London.
Thames to Affinity Transfer: A raw water transfer using a variety of potential water sources and three possible ‘corridors’.
South Lincolnshire Reservoir: When river flows allow, water would be sourced from the River Witham and River Trent. Water could be transferred to the reservoir either by a pipeline or an open water transfer.
Anglian to Affinity Transfer: new infrastructure to transfer water from Anglian to supply Affinity customers. It may connect to the South Lincolnshire Reservoir, Fens Reservoir or a new source from the River Trent.
Following the end of the representation period, RAPID will then review all representations and make further recommendations to Ofwat. The regulator will consider the representations received and RAPID’s recommendations in making a final decision on the Strategic Resource Options.
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