The Government has this morning issued a new Ministerial direction to water and sewerage companies in England and Wales setting out the outcomes they must meet in the interest of national security and for the purpose of mitigating the effects of any civil emergency.

The Direction begins by saying that “it appears to the Secretary of State in relation to English water and sewerage undertakers and English water supply licensees” and “to the Welsh Ministers in relation to Welsh water and sewerage undertakers and Welsh water supply licensees” that it is “requisite and expedient in the interest of national security and for the purpose of mitigating the effects of any civil emergency to give them directions.”

The new Security and Emergency Measures (Water and Sewerage Undertakers and Water Supply Licensees) Direction 2022 comes into force immediately with effect from today.

The Direction goes into some detail about the measures the companies are expected to have in place and the processes and procedures they are expected to follow.

It also refers to the country’s critical national infrastructure, defining it as those elements of infrastructure, including assets, facilities, systems, networks and processes and the essential workers that operate and facilitate them, the loss or compromise of which could result in: 

• a major detrimental impact on the availability, integrity or delivery of essential services including those services which, if compromised, could result in a civil emergency, or
• a significant impact on national security.

The Directions sets requirements the water companies are expected to meet in terms of planning, including:

The company must make, keep under review and revise such plans as it considers necessary to ensure, during any civil emergency or event threatening national security:

• either the continued exercise of all of its functions;
• or,the continued exercise of those functions it can continue to exercise if the nature of the civil emergency or security event means that not all the functions can be exercised.

The water companies are expected to have plans in place for all of their water supply systems and treatment works. In the event of an unavoidable failure of piped water supply, they must ensure that a minimum supply is provided by alternative means.

With regard to sewerage functions, plans must be prepared on the basis that the company must guard against and deal with discharges from sewers into water which may be abstracted or where aquatic life may be adversely affected, or onto land where a discharge may cause pollution or affect the amenities of the area.

The plans must also make provision for strategically stored reserves of sufficient types and quantities of equipment and materials necessary to enable the company to continue to carry out its water supply or sewerage functions. Where a company has arrangements in place with an external supplier or provider for the supply of additional water to supplement its water supply resources, the company must also identify and assess any risks that may arise due to its dependence on the external supplier.

In addition, the companies are expected to have “appropriate emergency communication facilities and procedures” in place for managing and maintaining communications and support to customers throughout an emergency or security event. The Direction stipulates that they also need to establish “appropriate command and control arrangements” to manage an emergency or security event

All of the companies are required to regularly test the effectiveness of their plans to ensure they remain appropriate and to take steps to address any vulnerabilities identified.

The Direction also sets Ministerial expectations of the companies in terms of the identification and assessment of security risks, including long term risks, to the provision of their water supply or sewerage functions, including their asset base and supporting infrastructure, during a civil emergency or event threatening national security.

The Direction says the companies must “use such up-to-date technology and systems as are appropriate to ensure the ongoing security of relevant assets, supporting infrastructure and their operations.”

Personnel and incident reporting

The wide-ranging Direction also requires the utilities to have the following security measures in place in respect of personnel:

• processes for personnel to report security event risks and incidents;
• robust security incident response processes; and
• measures to ensure that staff have the appropriate level of security clearance.
• regularly test the effectiveness of security measures, policies and practices to ensure they remain appropriate to manage risks posed to security;
• take steps to address any further security risks or vulnerabilities that are identified.

The companies must also:

• notify the appropriate authority, together with any other organisations and people that may be affected by any actual or likely emergency or security event as soon as it becomes aware of this.
• undertake an annual audit of the assets which they have been notified as being classified as critical national infrastructure by the appropriate authority.

The new Direction has been issued this morning under the authority of Rebecca Pow MP, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Julie James, Minister for Climate Change, one of the Welsh Ministers.

Click here to download the Ministerial Direction