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Water Resources Management Plan

This plan sets out how we’ll create a resilient water future for customers in the South East and keep taps flowing during droughts.

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Two southern water employees conversing in the office

Plan overview

Our Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP), published every five years, forecasts how much water we’ll need in the future and proposes a mix of options to make sure we have enough. We’re currently revising our draft plan for the next 50 years.

Our first consultation on our draft Water Resources Management Plan closed on 20th February 2023. We issued our Statement of Response in the summer of 2023, and our regulator asked for some revisions to be made to the plan. We now plan to re-consult on our draft WRMP in the summer of 2024. 

Our Drought Plan, meanwhile, explains how we’ll manage water supplies when droughts occur, such as we experienced in the summer of 2022.

Statement of Response and associated annexes

We consulted on our draft plans, which look out to 2075, between 14 November 2022 and 20 February 2023. We had over 500 responses and issued our Statement of Response (SoR) in August which addressed them.

One of the main issues raised in the responses to our consultation was our proposed Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project (HWTWRP). In combination with Portsmouth Water, we have produced an annex addressing the specific issues raised.

Our draft WRMP 2024

We supply drinking water to over a million homes and businesses across the South East, but our water supplies face some big challenges. Our WRMP aims to make sure there’ll always be enough available.

It predicts how much water we’ll need for people, businesses and the environment in the future. As well as aiming to reduce the existing demand for water, we look at new sources, infrastructure – including reservoirs – water storage and new options such as desalination and water recycling.

What’s in our plan

The options in our plan are based on four priorities:

  • Efficient use of water and minimal wastage across society means we’ll help customers reduce how much water they use and cut leaks by at least 50% by 2050.
  • New water sources that provide resilient and sustainable supplies, including desalination, water recycling, reservoirs and transfers from other regions.
  • A network that can move water around the region means making the best use of the water we already have and moving it to where it’s most needed.
  • Catchment and nature-based solutions that improve the environment we rely upon to help increase the resilience of our existing sources.

Our plan contains a mix of these options at different times and in different places. To help explain our WRMP we've prepared a non-technical summary document.

Draft WRMP24 technical documents

We’ve produced more detail on how we developed our draft WRMP and the options we considered.

Bulk import (HSE) PWC to Otterbourne WSW (21Mld)

Bulk import (HSE) Thames to Southern Transfer - potable (120Mld) (Combination b)

Bulk import (KTZ) SEW RZ8 to near Canterbury (2 Mld)

Bulk import (KTZ) SEW RZ8 to near Canterbury (20Mld)

Bulk import (SNZ) Havant Thicket Reservoir to Pulborough WSW (20Mld)

Bulk import (SNZ) Havant Thicket Reservoir to Pulborough WSW (50Mld)

Bulk import (SNZ) SES to SNZ (10Mld)

Bulk import (SNZ) SEW RZ5 to Pulborough (10Mld)

Desalination (KME) Isle of Sheppey (10Mld)

Desalination (KME) Isle of Sheppey (20Mld)

Desalination (KME) Isle of Sheppey phase 2 (10Mld)

Desalination (KMW) Thames Estuary (10Mld)

Desalination (KMW) Thames Estuary (20Mld) (Development only)

Desalination (KMW) Thames Estuary (20Mld)

Desalination (KMW) Thames Estuary phase 2 (10Mld)

Desalination (KMW) Thames Estuary phase 2 (20Mld)

Desalination (KTZ) East Thanet (10Mld)

Desalination (KTZ) East Thanet (20Mld) Phase 2

Desalination (KTZ) East Thanet (20Mld)

Desalination (SBZ) Sussex Coast (10Mld) Phase 2

Desalination (SBZ) Sussex Coast (10Mld)

Desalination (SWZ) Tidal River Arun (10 Mld)

Drought option - supply (HSE) Candover (15.4Mld)

Drought option - supply (HSE) Lower Itchen sources from 2027 (38Mld)

Drought option - supply (HSE) Lower Itchen sources to 2027 (38Mld)

Drought option - supply (HSW) River Test (80Mld)

Drought option - supply (IOW) Caul Bourne (1.5Mld)

Drought option - supply (IOW) Eastern Yar (1Mld)

Drought option - supply (IOW) Lukely Brook (3Mld)

Drought option - supply (KMW) River Medway Scheme 1-4 (17Mld)

Drought option - supply (SHZ) Darwell reservoir 1-3 (1.2Mld)

Drought option - supply (SNZ) Pulborough surface water (Phases 1 to 3) (23Mld)

Drought option - supply (SNZ) Weir Wood (3.1Mld)

Drought option - supply (SWZ) East Worthing (2.5Mld)

Drought option - supply (SWZ) North Arundel (1.2Mld) version 2

Drought option - supply (SWZ) North Arundel (1.2Mld)

Education campaign (All resource zones)

Groundwater (HKZ) Newbury (1.3Mld)

Groundwater (HRZ) Romsey (4.8Mld)

Groundwater (IOW) Eastern Yar3 (1.5Mld)

Groundwater (IOW) Newchurch (LGS) (1.9Mld)

Groundwater (KME) Gravesend (2.7Mld)

Groundwater (SHZ) Rye Wells (1.5Mld)

Groundwater (SNZ) Petworth (4Mld) (Planning only)

Groundwater (SNZ) Petworth (4Mld)

Groundwater (SWZ) Pulborough Winter Transfer Stage 1 (2Mld)

Implementation of changes to regulation and policy on building standards and appliances (All resource zones)

Interzonal transfer (HAZ-HKZ) Hampshire Grid - reversible (10 Mld)

Interzonal transfer (HRZ-HSW) Romsey Town and Broadlands - bidirectional (3.1Mld)

Interzonal transfer (HRZ-HSW) Romsey Town and Broadlands - bidirectional (5Mld)

Interzonal transfer (HSE-HRZ) Abbotswood (1.1Mld)

Interzonal transfer (HSE-HWZ) Hampshire Grid - (38 Mld) bidirectional

Interzonal transfer (HSW-HRZ) Romsey Town and Broadlands - bidirectional (3.1Mld)

Interzonal transfer (HSW-HRZ) Romsey Town and Broadlands - bidirectional (5Mld)

Interzonal transfer (HWZ-HAZ) Hampshire Grid - (30 Mld) bidirectional

Interzonal transfer (KTZ-KME) Existing transfer (14Mld)

Interzonal transfer (KTZ-KMW) Utilise full existing transfer capacity (9Mld)

Interzonal transfer (SBZ-SWZ) Brighton to Worthing - bidirectional (40Mld)

Interzonal transfer (SNZ-SWZ) Pulborough WSW to Worthing (30Mld)

Interzonal transfer (SNZ-SWZ) Pulborough WSW to Worthing (60Mld)

Interzonal transfer (SWZ-SBZ) V6 valve additional capacity (13Mld)

Interzonal transfer Pulborough winter transfer stage 2 (4Mld)

Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) scheme (5.5 Mld)

Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) Scheme (5.5Mld) (Development only)

Marketing and comms campaign (All resource zones)

Programme of leakage reduction

Recycling (HSE) Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project (60Mld)

Recycling (HSE) Woolston WTW (7.1 Mld)

Recycling (IOW) Sandown WTW (8.1Mld)

Recycling (KME) Sittingbourne Industrial Water recycling (7.5Mld)

Recycling (KMW) Medway WTW (12.8Mld)

Recycling (SHZ) Hastings WTW (15Mld)

Recycling (SHZ) Tunbridge Wells WTW (3.6Mld)

Recycling (SNZ) Horsham WTW (6.8Mld)

Recycling (SNZ) Littlehampton WTW (15Mld)

Roll out of smart metering (All resource zones)

Roll out of smart tariffs across the company (All resource zones)

Storage (SHZ) Raising Bewl 0.4m (3Mld)

Storage (SNZ) River Adur Offline Reservoir (19.5Mld) (Planning only)

Storage (SNZ) River Adur Offline Reservoir (19.5Mld)

Supply of water efficiency products and services (All resource zones)

Treatment capacity (HSE) Upgrade Otterbourne WSW (30 Mld)

Treatment capacity (HSW) Upgrade River Test WSW (60Mld)

Water Audit programme (All resource zones)

In response to a request raised from a consultee during the draft Water Resource Management Plan 2024 (dWRMP) consultation, we have produced a short Addendum that collates and sets out data which is relevant to the Western Area and Water for Life – Hampshire Programme.

The collation of the data in this Addendum is intended to help readers better understand the information that has been provided in our draft plan, particularly in relation to abstraction during drought periods, on the Rivers Itchen and Test.

SWS Western Area SDB

DWRMP24 Western Area Supply Demand Balance

We worked with Water Resources South East (WRSE) – an alliance of the six water companies serving the South East – to develop a region-wide plan for water resources. The draft regional plan is reflected in our draft WRMP.

Our existing WRMP 2019

Find out more about our last Water Resources Management Plan, published in December 2019, which details how we plan to keep your taps flowing for the next 50 years.

WRMP19 Annual Review 2020-21

Our Water Resources Management Plan for 2020-70

Water Resources Management Plan 2019: Technical Overview

Statement of Exclusions

Annex 1

Annex 2

Annex 3

Annex 4

Annex 5

Annex 6

Annex 7

Annex 8

Annex 9

Annex 10

Annex 11

Annex 12

Annex 14: Strategic Environmental Assessment Main Report

Annex 14: Strategic Environmental Assessment Non-Technical Summary

Annex 14: Strategic Environmental Assessment Post Adoption Statement

Annex 15: Habitats Regulations Assessment Main Report

Annex 15: Habitats Regulations Assessment Non-Technical Summary

Annex 16: Water Framework Directive Assessment Main Report

Annex 16: Water Framework Directive Assessment Non-Technical Summary

Statement of Response

SOR Appendices 1-6

SOR Appendix 7

Addendum to Statement of Response