Water supplies secure as
customers and industry save millions of litres a day
WATER SERVICES
REGULATION AUTHORITY News Release (PN 35/07) issued by The
Government News Network on 16 October 2007
Customers can be
assured that their water supplies are secure, according to
Ofwat's 'Security of Supply 2006-07' report
published today.
The report looks at how well companies have managed to balance
their supply of water against the demand by their customers in a
way that ensures they meet their customers' needs for a safe,
secure and continuous water supply now and in the future.
During the year covered by the report, water companies and their
customers achieved water savings of 65 million litres (M/l) a day
- equivalent to the consumption of nearly 440,000 people or a city
almost the size of Bradford.
Voluntary water efficiency targets introduced by Ofwat will help
the companies to continue to build on this success.
Ofwat Chief Executive, Regina Finn said: "The focus by
customers and companies on using water wisely is very important
when companies are calculating how much water their customers will
need over time and planning to find the water resources to meet
that need."
Across the whole industry, leakage fell for the third consecutive
year and the amount of water lost through leakage is now one-third
lower than its 1994 peak.
"This is another key piece in the jigsaw of ensuring water
supplies are secure", said Regina Finn. "It is an area
where companies can show their customers that they are managing
the delivery of water efficiently."
Only Severn Trent failed to meet its leakage target and the
company has given Ofwat a legally binding undertaking to fix this
and meet future targets. Following similar action against Thames
Water last year, the company complied with its commitments in
2006-07 and beat its leakage target by 20 Ml/d.
Overall, the report shows that many companies are on course to
deliver the improvements that they promised to make sure they have
sufficient supplies to meet their customers' needs. But
there are some concerns that a few companies are not hitting
targets the regulator expected them to meet in the 2005-10 price
review period.
"We will monitor those companies closely", said Regina
Finn. "And as we did with those missing leakage targets, we
will take the action necessary to make sure they meet their
customers' needs."
Notes to Editors:
1. The Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) is the
economic regulator of water and sewerage companies in England and
Wales. It exercises its powers in a way that it judges will
protect the interests of consumers, promote value and safeguard
future water and sewerage services by allowing efficient companies
to carry out their functions properly, and to finance them.
2. The security of a company's supply indicates the
likelihood of its customers facing restrictions on water use more
often than is planned. A maximum security of supply index score
means a company should not need to impose such restrictions more
frequently, on average, than its planned level of service. Lower
scores mean that restrictions on use will be needed more
frequently, on average, than the planned level of service for some
of the company's customers.
3. The 'Security of Supply 2006-07' report covers
performance up to March 2007. It looks at how companies are
delivering their long-term plans to balance supply and demand for
water. It also includes information about leakage and water efficiency.
4. In August 2007, Ofwat set interim voluntary water efficiency
output targets for each company for 2008-09 and 2009-10. These
will help the regulator to gather evidence on how targets work,
how it can calculate them in a meaningful way, and how they can
provide incentives for each water company to promote an economic
level of water efficiency among consumers. Ofwat will continue to
work with companies and the Environment Agency on the further
development of targets.
5. Severn Trent Water's target was to reduce leakage by 17
Ml/d. Leakage did fall by 9 Ml/d but the company missed its
leakage target by 8Ml/d.
6. Ofwat has written to Dwr Cymru Water, Three Valleys Water and
South East Water expressing their concerns and emphasising that we
expect them to deliver the outputs they forecast by the end of
2009-10. Despite the fact that Dwr Cymru and Three Valleys have
improved their planned level of service banding, Dwr Cymru is
still behind its forecast score for both scenarios and Three
Valleys is behind on its critical period profile. South East is
also behind on both its planned level of service and critical
period profiles.
7. Summer last year saw one of the worst droughts in living
memory continue and seven water companies in south-east England
responded by restricting their customers' water use during
the height of the drought. These were: Sutton & East Surrey
Water, Southern Water, South East Water, Mid Kent Water,
Folkestone & Dover Water, Thames Water and Three Valleys Water.
8. Ml/d = A megalitre is equal to one million litres. Ml/d
refers to megalitres per day.
9. Ofwat announced its enforcement action on Severn Trent on 9
August 2007. See PN 27/07 for more details.
10. Ofwat announced its enforcement action on Thames Water on 4
July 2006. See PN 19/06 for more details.
11. The 'Security of Supply 2006-07 report' is
available on the Ofwat website, http://www.ofwat.gov.uk.
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