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The taskforce for water resilience will meet again next year to check on the implementation of its 10 recommendations to Ofwat.
Speaking to Utility Week at the launch of the report in London, chair Jacob Tompkins said the taskforce would hold a “task and finished” group meeting in about a year’s time, to evaluate the progress of the implementation of the recommendations.
Responsibility for a ‘resilience action group’ has been passed to industry representative body Water UK, which will decide on the members and the independent chair.
Once established, the action group will determine its own terms of reference, method of working and areas of activity.
The taskforce of 12 water experts was created as an arms-length body by Ofwat in response to a new statutory duty for resilience in the Water Act given it by the government last year.
The group began scrutinising the water companies’ plans and documents – such as water resource management plans, AMP6 business plans, and climate change adaptation plans – in July.
It then produced a set of 10 recommendations – presented to Ofwat and other sector stakeholders on 1 December – to help meet challenges such as trends in demographics and the impact of climate change.
Among the recommendations is that the industry should agree a shared definition of resilience for the sector. The group finalised the wording of its definition of resilience as: “Resilience is the ability to cope with, and recover from, disruption, and anticipate trends and variability in order to maintain services for people and protect the natural environment now and in the future.”
Increasing public engagement and education, creating “clear routes” for funding, coherent planning for resilience at a national and regional level, and establishing wastewater, sewerage and drainage plans are also recommended. Additionally, the task and finish group suggested the industry establish a water and wastewater resilience action group.
The regulator published its initial response to the report in December, along with its approach to resilience and a consultation on Water 2020, Ofwat’s regulatory framework for PR19.
Read Utility Week’s resilience recommendations analysis here.
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