Commenting on OFWAT’s plans to plans to introduce greater incentives for companies to transfer water from areas where it is plentiful, to areas of shortage, Michael Norton, Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Water Expert, said:
“It is encouraging to see OFWAT finally taking action to incentivise the trade of water and interconnectivity where appropriate. The UK’s water security is at a critical point and a number of urgent steps are required if we are to tackle this. Removal of the regulatory barriers that discourage water sharing between neighbouring water companies will play an important role, as will the development of new water storage facilities to harvest more rainfall. These facilities come at a cost, and this is another area where water companies should be incentivised to collaborate –sharing the cost and ensuring facilities are developed for a range of uses such as flood control, agriculture and public water supply.
“It is also important that OFWAT focusses its efforts on encouraging water sharing between adjacent regions, enabling the water needed to be transferred through a displacement chain or between adjacent river basins. Moving water long distances around the UK is costly, potentially environmentally damaging and too grand a design for the need."
He added: “There are many measures that can help us manage water more effectively from multipurpose reservoirs, storage ponds for agriculture, sustainable urban drainage systems, and household rainwater harvesting. But this requires a strategy bringing in all of the key players involved in water resource management and usage - from regulators, farmers and industry to water companies, the public and governments across the UK. To set this in motion, UK governments should create a UK Water Security Task Force, providing leadership and ultimately delivering a strategy that is coherent, integrated and achieves long term water security.”