20 | Our draft Water Resources Management Plan: Overview and consultation

Developing our Plan

We have examined a wide range of possible options to either increase supply or reduce demand. This has included looking for opportunities for wider transfers and carrying out detailed work on wastewater re-use schemes.
Identification of options We have assessed the costs and the benefits of 193 resource and transfer options, in addition to over 200 programmes to reduce demand for water. An overview of the types of options is shown in figure 8. We have also looked at options for potentially more cost-effective and/or better ways to source water for zones where there is currently a surplus. We reviewed and screened these options to determine which to take forward. We excluded the remainder on the basis that they were too expensive, would potentially harm the environment or were unacceptably risky. We then assessed the remaining options in terms of cost, environmental and social impact (including its carbon impact). Figure 7 illustrates how different types of options compare against a variety of factors we consider. Where there are multiple options of one type we have refined the list by considering the variants of each option which are lower cost and show better overall performance. In total, 122 supply options remained after this second stage of screening and were then put forward to the programme appraisal process.

Figure 7 The ranges of cost, benefit and implementation time of water resources options Options to manage the demand for water
Demand Management Wastewater re-use Desalination Regional water transfers Reservoir Ground water schemes Removing network constraints Surface water abstractions 465 900 1,406 353 1,299 928 227 3,087

Cost* (Pounds per megalitre) Average Range

21 - 1,353 532 - 1,384 1,144 - 1,787 140 - 703 529 - 2,500 165 - 3,199 5 - 630 657 - 18,256

Water benefit (Megalitres per day) Average

166.5 74 79 11 109 5 3 64

Implementation (years) Average

1 year 6 years 6 years 8 years 12 years 3 years 1 year 5 years

Range
25 - 295 15 - 150 15 - 150 5 - 17 24 - 283 0 - 19 1 - 5.2 2 - 336

Note: *This cost accounts for the whole life of the option and includes environmental and social costs

How satisfied are you with the range of options we have considered? To what extent do you agree with the process we followed to arrive at these options?

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Figure 8 Overview of resource and demand management options Options to manage the demand for water (demand management)
Leakage Metering Fixing leaks from our distribution network and from customers supply pipes Installing water meters at customers properties to measure the amount of water used. This information allows us to better manage our resources and supply by understanding where the water is used in our network and to identify leakage. It also helps us to work with customers to encourage the wise use of water Wide-ranging activities to help household, institutional and business customers to use water wisely and avoid waste

Water efficiency

Options to increase available resources

Transfer of water Transfers schemes involve the movement of resources. These can take many forms including: Reservoir storage Groundwater schemes Third party supplies Transfers of untreated water from other regions, via canals or rivers Transfers of untreated water from overseas via tanker or large holding container Transfers of treated water between resources zones within our supply area Transfers of treated or untreated water under agreements with neighbouring water companies

Reservoirs store water during periods of plentiful resource for use during periods when resources are under pressure. Regulating reservoirs can support flows in rivers and have ecological benefits. Sourcing water from groundwater aquifers. Treated water can be stored in natural underground aquifers in a process called artificial recharge. Underground aquifers can also be isolated to protect the water quality which is known as aquifer storage and recovery.

Surface water schemes Wastewater re-use

Sourcing water from rivers. Treated effluent from sewage treatment works can be put through a further treatment process and then either fed directly to a water treatment works or indirectly, via a river or reservoir. There are a variety of different technologies that can be used in this option, each of which has advantages and disadvantages. Saline water from the sea or a coastal estuary can be treated and used as a resource.

Desalination

Options to improve the efficiency of operations

Catchment management Network and operational measures Reduction of supply-side operational use and losses Schemes to change land use or behaviour to increase the yield or quality or raw water sources Existing assets can be upgraded to either increase interconnectivity between areas or improve the way our assets perform. This helps to maximise the use of available resources Activities to ensure effective use of water as part of our operational processes

22 | Our draft Water Resources Management Plan: Overview and consultation

Third party supplies and water transfers In line with Defras preference to promote competition and water transfers, we have invited neighbouring water companies and other organisations to propose options to provide resources or manage demand. We have promoted this through formal procurement processes and, more informally, via discussions. A number of options have been proposed. Where sufficient information has been available to assess them, they have been included as part of our option appraisal process. For options where there was insufficient information, these will continue to be assessed as the information becomes available. This process has identified potential large-scale regional water transfers bringing additional water into the Thames catchment. However, the understanding of the cost and performance of these options is still developing.

This is in addition to our work with the Water Resources in the South-East (WRSE) group to examine opportunities for improved water transfers between companies. Developing our preferred programme Our aim has been to produce a Plan that delivers best value to customers in the long term. A best value water resources plan is one that combines the most appropriate mix of supply and demand options to form the best possible balance between cost and performance. To do this, we defined five criteria of performance success and followed our own structured programme appraisal process. We first considered a wide range of options to develop a programme with the lowest financial cost. We then studied factors which could not be judged in purely monetary terms. This began with an environmental assessment of each option, followed by consideration of how they

performed against wider objectives such as customer, stakeholder and government priorities, as well as risk and resilience. The next stage was to evaluate the performance of a range of programmes through a scoring matrix, designed to highlight the overall performance of different decisions and choices. The use of the scoring matrix helped inform our decisions and enabled us to carry out a transparent evaluation. We shared our approach and results with stakeholders and regulators prior to finalising our Plan. We selected the programme that we consider gives the best value and overall balance as the one proposed in our Plan this is known as our final preferred programme. This was not the lowest cost Plan but one that balances risk, is flexible and robust to uncertainty and contributes to sustainable development. Further details on our approach are in our technical report.

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Performance criteria for programme evaluation Cost total financial and environmental cost Customer the likely effect on customers bills, and the extent to which options agree with their feedback Sustainability the impact on the environment, through a Strategic Environmental Assessment, and whether options meet the Governments objective to reduce average water use per person. More information about our Strategic Environmental Assessment and Habitats Regulations Assessment in Appendices B and C of our draft Plan. Delivery how practical each option is to implement and the extent to which it is in line with other activities Sensitivity an assessment of the degree to which each option could be affected by external factors, such as climate change

What is your view of the way in which we have appraised our Water Resources Management Plan? Do you have any comments on the way our Strategic Environmental Assessment and Habitats Regulations Assessment have been factored into our appraisal process?