Reducing leaks When water leaks from pipes before it reaches our customers, not only is it wasted, but so is the energy we used to treat it and move it around. It also affects our reputation with our customers, who consider it a key issue, so we aim to reduce leakage as much as possible. We also have a commitment with the rest of the UK water sector to triple the rate of leakage reduction by 2030. We’ve achieved our leakage target for nine of the past ten years, and have now set goals to reduce it by 15% by 2025, and 50% by 2045. We’ll do this by finding and fixing leaks earlier and faster, ideally before they begin to cause a problem. We’ve invested in our teams of water-network technicians, and equipped them with 40,000 loggers. These trigger an alarm remotely for us to investigate, which is much faster than being physically on the network detecting leaks. 92,000km network of sewers. In 2020, we saw a further year-on-year reduction of the total number of pollutions, with waste-water pollutions the lowest number of incidents ever. We are one of only a handful of companies to regularly achieve the Environment Agency’s 4* EPA accolade, which covers a range of environmental measures. We’re now aiming to add to the 1,600km of rivers protected between 2015 and 2020, by enhancing the quality of a further 2,100km by 2025, over 50% of our rivers in total. Nature-based solutions These involve creating new or restored habitats to address practical environmental problems such as flooding or pollution, as an alternative to traditional hard-engineering infrastructure. Of course, the landscapes in our catchments are an invisible infrastructure, absorbing, capturing, and filtering our water, especially around reservoirs. So in effect, we’ve been working with nature-based solutions by default for generations. But in recent years we’ve been pioneering their use as a cost-effective alternative to concrete engineering systems, and one that brings a wide range of other public benefits, too. We expect nature-based solutions and catchment management will feature prominently both in the rural and urban environment of the future – with an expansion of created wetlands, sustainable urban drainage systems, and tree planting – all working to reduce flooding, filter water, capture carbon and enhance biodiversity. Sustainable urban drainage systems Known as SUDS, these offer a natural approach to managing drainage in and around properties by slowing and holding back the water that runs off a site. This helps reduce the risk of sewage systems being overwhelmed, or localised flash flooding. They also create green oases, improving the urban environment for both people and wildlife. Catchment nutrient balancing The main sources of Phosphorus in rivers are agricultural runoff and treated wastewater effluent. Phosphorus creates water-quality problems and removing it in our treatment works is expensive, needing both chemicals and energy. By working with farmers to install phosphate-reducing interventions like wetlands, hedgerows, and grass buffer strips at the edge of fields, and by encouraging regenerative agriculture approaches, we can reduce phosphate levels by 50% more than through traditional treatment technology. Removing less water from the environment We aim to address the legacy of unsustainable sources of water abstraction that, in some cases, date back over 50 years. We are investing to reduce abstraction from sources shown to have an adverse impact on our rivers and aquifers, and replace them with more sustainable sources of supply. We also consider the long-term impacts of our abstractions, and work to prevent ongoing deterioration of the environment. Where the environmental effects of our abstractions are uncertain, we will work with partners on improvements and protection measures in the wider catchment, to mitigate their effects. We are working with partners on mitigation measures at eleven sites, collaborating with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs ('Defra') in two others, while reducing abstraction from unsustainable sources by up to 39Ml/d by 2030. In areas where abstraction could cause a deterioration of a water body’s Water Framework Directive status, we work to develop sustainable solutions, whether that’s addressing matters at that location, or using alternative sources of water. Reducing pollution Pollution incidents are an ongoing problem, generally caused by heavy rainfall, asset failure or blockages. The UK’s ageing combined sewage infrastructure mixes rainwater and road run-off with waste from properties, all running in the same pipe network to sewage treatment works. During heavy rainfall there’s a risk of sewage from these pipes flooding homes, roads or open spaces, so we use storm overflows to discharge excess dilute waste water into watercourses. We are looking into how technological improvements could facilitate near real-time, public reporting of when sewer overflows are operating. In addition, we continue to work to educate customers on what can cause blockages. As well as these remedies, we work across the landscape to slow the flow of water during heavy rainfall, and create increased sewer and storage capacity. But we are also decreasing run-off rates by planting trees and restoring habitats, and in urban areas, working with local councils to install infrastructure like rain gardens, drainage ponds and permeable paving. We have seen promising results from our trials of low-cost sewer monitoring and digital technology, enabling us to respond to incidents before they cause an environmental issue. We are now finalising plans to install a total of 40,000 sensors by 2025, to monitor our network around high-risk areas. Since 2011, we have reduced total pollutions by a 57% and serious pollutions by over 93%. However, we want to do more, and so we’re aiming to halve the number of pollutions over the next five years, and longer term, to reduce them to zero across our entire The Interconnector – balancing water needs across the country We increasingly need to move water from where it’s most plentiful to where it’s most needed, including between different water companies. For example, not only is South-east England drier than the North-west, but it has more people and therefore greater water demand. By the mid-2030s, it could be short of around 1,300 million litres a day – or six million people’s average consumption. So we’re investigating ways of transferring water across the country when it’s needed, through an interconnector – a series of pipes, rivers and canals. Looking after the world around us Ensuring a sustainable water cycle continued Adapting capacity to climate change Read more online Read more Severn Trent Water water management plans Reducing pollutions – read more online Read more Hafren Dyfrdwy water management plans Adapting capacity to climate change The climate is already changing, and will continue to do so over the coming decades. We will need to handle extreme weather as part of our normal business activities. Our water resources strategy takes into account the potential long-term impacts of climate change, including their uncertainty. We’ve used climate modelling to inform these strategic and investment plans, assessing a wide range of potential climate scenarios and their impacts by 2045. Because of the uncertainty, we are planning ambitious leakage and demand management measures that complement our longer-term plans to improve water supply reliability, and will create 68.5Ml/d of new supply capacity by 2025. We are constantly improving our efforts in pursuit of a sustainable water cycle, particularly in design and technological innovation, and in nature-based landscape initiatives that will slow the flow of flood water.