Water supply

New campaign to create united voice on water efficiency

Tom Andrewartha, water efficiency manager at Northumbrian, talks to Utility Week about the newly formed group for a joined-up campaign to change household habits around water in lockdown and beyond.

Thames hits leakage target

After being rapped by Ofwat for missing leakage targets in AMP6, Thames has celebrated hitting its goals for 2019/20, largely thanks to the deployment of smart meters.

Pennon eyeing UK-wide acquisitions after Viridor sale

The sale of Viridor is expected to leave Pennon with a £2.5 billion war chest and the company has said it has been tracking acquisition potentials. Analysts have suggested the company could look towards a "transformative" deal to keep it in the FTSE 100.

Coronavirus ‘amplifies problems with social tariffs’

A review of social tariffs in the water sector is needed to end a “postcode lottery” which will only be exacerbated by coronavirus, a water poverty charity has insisted.

Fletcher: Everyone ‘took their eye off the ball’ on leakage

Ofwat's chief executive has said that progress is now being made on leakage but admitted it has not always been treated as a high enough priority. 

Stay home, save water

Water efficiency needs a message as simple to understand and follow as "stay home, save lives", according to the head of the Environment Agency (EA). James Bevan said there were lessons from the Covid-19 crisis in terms of the significant behavioural changes accepted by the public when the urgency of the issue was clearly communicated.

Thames Water ‘on track’ to meet leakage target

Ofwat boss Rachel Fletcher said Thames is set to meet its leakage target in 2020 as the company announced water efficiency savings made by customers during lockdown by finding and fixing household leaks

Water companies urge public to limit usage

The trade body for the water industry has urged householders to be mindful of their usage at peak times as demand reached its highest ever point amid the continued lockdown and sunny weather. According to data from Water UK, people are currently using an average of 20 per cent more water, with some areas seeing up to a 40 per cent increase.

Water firms see demand rise by up to a third during lockdown

The driest May for more than a century coupled with the lockdown has seen a dramatic spike in water usage, with one company reporting a 33 per cent increase on an average month and another comparing the effect to serving an extra 400,000 customers.

Bristol Water updates social contract

Time to ‘put pedal to the metal’ over shared PSR

Pennon shareholders give green light to Viridor sale

Pennon shareholders approve the sale of waste management business Viridor to US private equity firm as the company focuses on opportunities in the water and wastewater sector.

Covid will make PCC targets ‘exceptionally hard’

SES Water talks Utility Week through data on water use during lockdown, with traditional spikes flattening at home and demand collapsing in the non-domestic market. The Surrey-based company has also seen clear differences in usage between different socio-economic groups. Water strategy manager Alison Murphy explains what this all means for consumption targets.

UU teams up with AI-tech firm to listen for leaks

United Utilities claims to have amassed the largest collection of leakage data in the world after partnering with a tech firm to tackle the issue using acoustic sensors and artificial intelligence.

‘People are our most valuable assets’

As Mental Health Awareness Week draws to a close Utility Week hears from Anglian and Yorkshire about what well-being means and how working from home has affected their people.