Our strategies and plans

What is a regional water resources plan?

A regional water resources plan is an assessment and a plan for the region’s water needs, reflecting growth, climate change and the environment. The plans are created through a collaboration between water companies and other large water users

The plans are designed to deliver:

More resilience to drought
Greater environmental improvement
Long-term and sustained reductions in the volume of water each of us uses every day
Leakage reductions of 50% by 2050.

In addition, they have to show how each region will make sure there is enough water to go round in the future. This could include:

Building new reservoirs or desalination plants
Implementing water re-use or recycling schemes
Developing and sharing water supplies with other sectors, such as agriculture and energy
Moving water from areas where it is plentiful to areas where it is in short supply.

The plans are devised by five regional groups; Water Resources North, Water Resources East, Water Resources South East, West Country Water Resources and our group; Water Resources West.

Together, the five regional plans must add up to a national approach that addresses long-term water resources challenges. This is to ensure there is always enough water to meet everyone’s needs.

Why is this important?

Demand for water is increasing

At the moment, Water Resources West needs around 5,300 million litres of water a day to supply households and businesses across the region. This is likely to increase in the future because of things like population growth and climate change.

Pressure on the environment

Water companies that make up Water Resources West are facing restrictions on the volume of water they can take from the environment. This is to ensure the environment is protected now and in the future.

Shortage of water

Although we live in a country where we think it rains a lot, the Environment Agency has designated the South Staffs Water region as an area of ‘serious water stress’. This means there are, or are likely to be, environmental impacts caused by public water supplies or the need to develop new water resources. (It also means that we can manage demand for water through things like more metering, if our customers support this approach.)

Our regional water resources plan

We want to be sure that we can always provide high-quality and sustainable water supplies at an affordable price. We believe that working collaboratively with other water companies and stakeholders will help us to do this

Read the Emerging Regional Plan.Feedback on this emerging plan for consultation was open between 17 January 2022 and 28 February 2022. Watch this space for more news on the plan.

Did you know?
The Water Resources West regional plan also informs our detailed water resources management plan (WRMP), which sets out how we will provide high-quality and sustainable water supplies to our customers over 25 years.

We develop and consult on our WRMP at least every five years and review it each year. We are currently developing our next WRMP, which will be published in autumn 2023.