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Yorkshire Water could face costs of £55 million following devastating flooding over the Christmas period.
The company was forced to draft in support from fellow water companies – Wessex Water, Northumbrian Water, and Welsh Water – to help it battle the floods. It is currently in discussion with its insurers as to the exact cost incurred. However, when flooding this severe last occurred in 2007, the cost amounted to approximately £55 million at today’s prices.
A Yorkshire Water spokesman said: “We don’t yet know the costs of recovering from the recent December 2015 floods, but the impact in terms of assets affected is similar.”
From the afternoon of 25 December, when the rain started, it took until 9 January for Yorkshire to get customers back to normal levels of operation.
Analysts have predicted that United Utilities, which was also badly affected by this winter’s floods, could face costs of up to £50 million.
The role of water companies in flood defences across the country is currently up for discussion. Ofwat chief executive Cathryn Ross told Utility Week last October that it was a good time for a debate on whether water firms could play a greater role, saying she could “envisage a situation in which water companies could perform useful functions around flood protection and flood defences”.
The debate has intensified with the recent floods. Respected economist Dieter Helm recently intervened, calling for a “radical rethink” on flood defence including greater responsibility for water companies.
The government has pledged to review flood defence spending, but the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) told Utility Week it still has “no plans” to review water companies’ roles on flooding.
However, locally, Yorkshire Water has been invited to give evidence at a meeting of the newly set up Floods Commission in Calderdale, and Calderdale council leader Tim Swift told Utility Week he believed the company could “play a bigger role” through better management of land and control of reservoir levels.
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