Making water count … now and in the future

We all know that water is a precious resource – and one that is vital for life. It’s something we all use in our homes and business every day.

Everything we do is about making sure that you continue to receive high-quality and reliable supplies of this vital resource now and over the long term.

This means that we’re continually planning for the future. And we’re always striving for excellence and challenging ourselves to deliver more of the services you expect and rely on.

So in every part of our business, we’re making water count – for you, your communities and the environment – now and over the long term.

Planning for the future

Every five years we prepare a business plan, which we submit to the regulator Ofwat.

This sets out the thing we will do over the next five years to deliver the services you expect - at a price you can afford to pay. It focuses on the following outcomes, which are the promises we've made on the services you've said you want us to deliver.

In the five years to 2025, we will invest heavily in our assets. This includes:

• making sure we protect the environment by looking after natural habitats, such as chalk streams, for wildlife and plants;
• replacing our Bourn reservoir with greater storage to cope with increased demand for water because of population growth in the region;
• reducing leakage by 15%, by fixing visible leaks faster and using a range of detection techniques;
• encouraging more of you to have a water meter fitted – particularly those of you who would have the most benefit from having one (for example, if you live on your own);
• encouraging you to be ‘water wise’ and reduce the volume of water you use each day by 6%;
• putting in place a live or ‘smart’ network to give us the data we need to address problems with our resources before they affect your water supplies; and
• repairing and replacing those water mains that would have a big impact on communities if they burst.

At the same time, we will keep your bills affordable – while continuing to provide financial support for those of you who are struggling to pay.

In developing our plan, we talked and listened to you and other voices in your communities about your priorities. This is so we can be sure we've put together the right plan for everyone.

We also engaged with the Independent Customer Panel (the 'Customer Challenge Group'), which is the panel set up to represent our customers and challenge our plans.

It also gives independent assurance to Ofwat on the quality of our customer engagement - and the degree to which this engagement is driving our business planning.