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Wessex have received the green light for a £100 million expansion to its Avonmouth treatment plant in Bristol after a five-year consultation to make the site fit for purpose as the population grows. The company said expanding the works' capacity will cut the number of storm overflows triggered during heavy rainfall
1 year ago
Date: 17/11/2023 11:00 am
England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty has called out MPs for overlooking human health issues when drafting legislation relating to sewerage. Whitty called for a refocus on health within wastewater legislation, which is currently framed around environmental targets.
Anglian Water has announced plans for a £27 million upgrade to water and sewerage infrastructure in Peterborough including £10 million on storm tanks to increase storage capacity in the network. The company said it is part of a £100 million spending drive to grow capacity across its region in the east of England to relieve the use of storm overflows during times of heavy rainfall.
Flexibility in water regulation is required to ensure companies can react to evolving consumer expectations such as sewer overflows, Susan Davy, head of Pennon has argued. She noted that overflows, which politicians and regulators made an investment priority for water and sewerage companies, were not being talked about five years ago when plans for PR19 were being made.
Anglian Water has proposed to spend more than £9 billion over the next asset management period – an increase of more than two thirds when compared to £5.3 billion of total expenditure allowed by Ofwat in its final determinations for PR19. Under its PR24 business plan for 2025 to 2030, the company said its expenditure on the environment would more than double to around £4 billion.
Despite low customer support in decarbonising water assets, the sector has proposed spending £1.3 billion in the next asset management period (AMP8) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as it works towards operational net zero in 2030 and true net zero by 2050. Utility Week unpicks each company's PR24 business plan to see where the proposed investment will be spent.
Yorkshire Water has begun £10 million upgrades to a wastewater treatment site in Dronfield to remove phosphorus from treated effluent and improve water quality in the river Drone. The project is part of a wider investment of £500 million to reduce excess nutrients entering waterways across Yorkshire's region.
Welsh Water has strong customer support for its ambitious business plan, despite almost half of customers admitting the proposed bills will be difficult to pay. The company has set out plans to improve services and performance for the years to 2030 and will ask customers to pay an extra 26%.
The cost of upgrading and future-proofing Thames Water’s ageing assets would be almost £20 billion, the company has revealed. To tackle the most pressing issues, Thames has proposed spending £4.7 billion on its assets in the five years to 2030. The figures are revealed within Thames’ PR24 business plan which it made public on 5 October, three days later than Ofwat’s submission deadline.
Wastewater companies have set out their investment plans to tackle storm overflows during the PR24 period. The total investment will top £9 billion with several companies expecting to beat government targets. United Utilities (UU) and Yorkshire Water will make the largest investments in PR24 at £3.1 billion and £1.9 billion respectively due to UU having more combined sewers than most other water companies, coupled with higher-than-average rainfall.
Severn Trent has told investors it is confident the "vast majority" of its spending plans for 2025-2030 will be approved, after asking for a doubling in total expenditure compared to the current price control. Meanwhile chief executive Liz Garfield promised growth in regulatory capital value “beyond anything people might have been expecting” for PR24.
In the first signal of how water companies are approaching investment plans for 2025-2030, Severn Trent has indicated it expects totex to more than double compared to the first half of the decade. The company gave a summary of its plans as it announced it is seeking £1 billion equity to fund a programme of river improvements, resilience and service. It has also revealed indicative views on bill rises and key performance commitments.
