CPRE South East
Campaigning to Protect the South East's Countryside

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The report tells the government, Ofwat and the water companies that:

• We must stop extracting water to the detriment of the natural environment.
• We must stop assuming that the water needs of new developments can be met without a major drive for water efficiency and reduced leakage.
• Ofwat must be overhauled so that its first priority should be for measures to improve conservation, reduce leakage by water companies, and encourage and enable water efficiency by consumers.
• Development in those areas where water resources have already been identified as unsustainable should only proceed when an integrated water supply strategy has been put in place.
• The South East needs a region-wide strategy transcending water company boundaries and this may require a new body to deliver it.
• Reservoirs are increasingly unsound as a technical solution given the level of water stress from over-abstraction and their increasing unreliability under climate change conditions.

Summary

The recognition that the weather is becoming unpredictable and at times more extreme lies behind many of the arguments in this report. We now face the prospect of a progressive increase in the stress on water resources arising from: the need for water companies to comply with new and more demanding environmental controls on their abstraction from rivers and groundwater sources; the ongoing impact of climate change (forecast to bring wetter winters and drier summers); and the housing growth proposed for the South East. The water supply system in the South East is designed for predictable hydrological conditions, yet in recent years the region has seen drought alternating with flooding and the disruption of seasonal patterns. The assumption of predictable supply patterns has led to a relaxed attitude to wastage of water, and to excessive abstraction from rivers and boreholes in times of drought. But drought conditions can no longer be regarded as rare or extreme events.

Development pressures in the South East are making this problem worse. The House of Lords has already questioned concentrating the highest rate of growth in the region with the greatest stress on water resources but we are still increasing the stress on our water systems by building more houses than can be coped with. The government's desire to substantially increase housebuilding levels exacerbates the stress on water supply and the problems of runoff. We are creating more hard runoff from roofs and roads, and gardens concreted for parking and decked for patios. This is worsening flood risk.

The consequence of these stress factors is that current arrangements for water supply are degrading the environment. Water tables and rivers have been seriously depleted and wetlands degraded. The wildlife dependent on these has been forced into narrower corridors, with some populations reduced to crisis levels.

The level of stress on water supply in the South East and the consequent stress on the natural environment has got to the point where we need to think differently about water and behave differently too. That requires change by consumers, companies and regulators.

Consumers seem more ready to change than do companies and regulators. They are willing to cut consumption for cost and environmental reasons, and it is important that they have the facilities and the right pricing signals—metering, tariff increases and water saving equipment. Where this is underway it has been shown to be successful, but it needs to be more actively and urgently applied across the South East.

There is a strong case for a region-wide strategy transcending water company boundaries—one which is environmentally sustainable and delivers best value for money for consumers. Delivery of this strategy may require the creation of a new body with the expertise and resources to formulate a strategy, and the authority to direct the water companies in its implementation. There is also a case for making more effective use of the natural and artificial links that already exist between the South East and adjacent water rich areas.

Water companies in the South East leak 1,137 million litres a day of the 5,373 ml/d of clean water supplied (21%). The current standard of performance, the Economic Level of Leakage (ELL), should be replaced by a broader-based assessment which also includes environmental and social sustainability. At the same time, more than half of the effluent processed in the Southern Region is discharged to sea. This is a unique resource which can be treated and put into supply at relatively low cost. It constitutes a sustainable and drought-proof solution which can be implemented within a three-to-five year time frame.

The proposed Upper Thames Reservoir near Abingdon in Oxfordshire is judged to be poor in terms of its local environmental impact and its long term environmental sustainability. As the impact of climate change grows, it is possible that pumping water out of the Thames will damage its ecology. The reservoir may not be viable at 380 ml/d without substantial transfers from outside the region. The difficulties of abstraction are illustrated by Bewl Reservoir in Kent, which has already faced refilling difficulties.

Development in those areas where resources have already been identified as unsustainable should only proceed where an integrated water supply strategy has been put in place and other planning criteria are satisfied. Failing this, government must accept that many consumers will face a regime of crisis management in which hose pipe bans will be a more or less permanent feature.

Conclusions

1) Supply. Water supply in the South East is already in deficit and by 2025, the public water deficit could be as much as a billion litres a day.

2) Limits. The government has failed to recognise the reality of water limits as a constraint on housebuilding or the need to change regulatory frameworks.

3) Regulation. Water companies are working under the wrong regulatory and financial frameworks. Investment in conservation and recycling should have a much higher financial priority. The concept of an "economic level of leakage" is outdated and does not encourage water companies or consumers to increase conservation.

4) Reliability. As river flows become less reliable, the water storage assumptions for reservoir construction are becoming less dependable, yet these still underpin arguments for reservoir construction.

5) Reuse. Water reuse and indirect recycling of waste water through water courses is largely ignored by the industry but it should be a major structural component in water supply strategies.

Recommendations

1) Environment. The first priority should be to reinstate the water environment. There must be a more equitable balance between the needs of the environment and the needs of public supply.

2) Limits. Government planners must take greater account of the environmental limits of water supply when planning housing expansion and eco-towns.

3) Regulation. Ofwat's remit should be changed to give it a much stronger emphasis on conservation and the influence of "economic level of leakage" in its thinking should be reduced.

4) Efficiency. We need a new approach to our thinking about water supply. Incentives for water companies to conserve should be consistent with conservation measures for consumers. All new buildings must be water efficient and retro-fitting of existing homes should be tested as part of S106 agreements.

5) Supply. Water supply strategies must change. Reservoirs are no longer the first choice technical solution. Water recycling needs to be a leading part of all water company's business plans. Discharge of fresh, clean wastewater to the sea must stop.

Further Information

• A Water Resource Strategy for the South East of England