Northern water firms urged to participate with infrastructure projects

Water companies in the North have been urged to submit ideas for nationwide resource sharing as part of Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development (RAPID) scheme.

The group, comprising Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the Drinking Water Inspectorate, is calling for a nationwide planning network and is keen to explore options for redistributing water to tackle flooding as well as drought in coming years.

Crystal Moore, seconded from Environment Agency where she works as deputy director of readiness and risk, told Utility Week the alliance is agnostic to particular solutions but wants to explore value.

She said the idea of value goes beyond money to balance out affordability with resilience, mutual environment benefits and providing high quality water.

Eight water companies submitted proposals to the voluntary process, but the RAPID board hopes more will engage with the scheme. The west and north of England have been identified as most likely to have water surpluses while parts of the south east are already experiencing deficit.

“I would expect all companies to be involved especially looking at a national strategic way of operating. For example, if you could release resources from the north it gives different options for transporting water through the country. Most of the resources will come from the north or west but at the moment we don’t have any proposals from the north.”

RAPID will work with regional group Water Resources North to encourage participation in exploring catchment areas and water resource management for floods as well as droughts.

The group was formed in response to reports highlighting the pressures climate change, economic development and population growth will have on water resources. A joint team from Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the Drinking Water Inspectorate aim to address the need for sharing and transfer schemes in the future.

Moore explained the National Infrastructure Report last year examined future water needs and assessed the UK would require an extra 1300 megalitres a day by the 2030’s – that’s per capita consumption (PCC) equivalent to nine million people.

“2030 isn’t far away and given how long it takes to get infrastructure designed and built, Ofwat CEO Rachel Fletcher felt a real urgency to move things forward and approached the treasury with a business case to bring together the regulators to better manage their interests in getting infrastructure developed – hence RAPID.”

The group has three objectives: the first is to overcome barriers to collaboration within the companies such as resolving water quality issues for transfer and finding the best value solutions.

The second objective is to progress the best schemes, some of which may have been proposed a while ago but deferred. Funding has been made available through the PR19 draft determinations with a process for accessing the money to support feasibility of design and build.

All companies will go through a five-gate determination process to be construction ready by 2025.  Due to water scarcity in the south, Southern Water is on an accelerated determination process to enable it to get schemes operational sooner.

The final objective is to design regulatory regimes of the future by making recommendations to the RAPID board, which is made up of Ofwat, DWI and EA.

“A big part of what we’re doing is having that forward look. This need is not going to go away, these are recurring issues. So, based on what we discover along the way with these schemes we should be looking to design a future-proof regulatory regime, so we don’t have an enduring need for RAPID.”

In February Ofwat announced £450 million would be made available to companies through draft determinations to progress strategic schemes. In response, eight companies submitted proposals for 15 schemes for advancing. Moore said these projects yield in the range of 1100 to 1900 megalitres a day and therefore have the capacity to meet the needs expressed by the infrastructure commission.

Moore said most of the schemes are already part of companies’ statutory plans but there are some new ones.

“We prompted the industry to think about how they can work for societal good rather than just solving the issues in their own geography. We really want a national strategic joined-up way of doing things. Now they have come back to us with more ideas.”

Moore said the four broad types of schemes that have been proposed are: transport schemes including Severn Trent transfer and Grand Union Canal; storage options including reservoirs; desalination projects; and effluent reuse systems.

“We are looking at a scale that’s not been done before. We’re going pan-regional now and as a destination we will be looking at a national way of working – but that’s a few steps away.”

The organisers are keen to see companies working together and to see water resource management plans looking beyond individual company needs, to look at the needs of entire water user groups.

The next stage is to work with others on water resource management plans to ensure different groups or users do not have a conflict of interests over water resources.

Moore said companies are keen to collaborate and cooperate with the ideas for mutually beneficial goals.

“This is the industry working together not the regulators dictating so the companies are pleased with that way of working,” she said.

RAPID is hiring a managing director to complement its team, which it anticipates will reach a total of 16 in the new year.

The role of managing director is expected to include a salary of between £92,000 and £120,000 and is described as suitable for someone with leadership experience in water regulation, or a closely related area, and preferably with understanding of water resource planning.