Water Resources Management Plan 2009
The Water Resources Management Plan Regulations 2007 required water companies to produce a draft Statutory Water Resources Management Plan for public consultation. During the period 2nd May to 25th July 2008 the public and interested bodies such as the Environment Agency commented on draft the Plan. Following the period of consultation the Company published its Statement of Response (see below) on 30th January 2009.
On the 3rd August 2009 Defra announced that the Company's Water Resources Management Plan would be subject to a Public Hearing presided over by the Planning Inspectorate.
Following a review of the evidence the Inspector has now advised that an Inquiry is necessary to examine the Water Resources Management Plan rather than a Public Hearing. Defra will now agree a timetable for the Inquiry with the Planning Inspectorate and this will be published in due course.
Portsmouth Water has a long history of water resource planning and our customers have reaped the benefit of our predecessors forward thinking. However the new statutory process for preparing Water Resources Management Plans is more complex than previously and it involves a public consultation phase.
A number of issues were raised in the representations to the Draft Plan which the Company believed it had clarified in its Statement of Response to Stakeholders which it issued in January 2009. The Company planned a number of measures in the Final Plan submitted to the Secretary of State which included:-
• A targeted Mains Renewal Programme
• A Leakage Savings Initiative
• A Water Efficiency Programme including the retrofitting of dual flush devices in existing toilets
• A 20 year Universal Metering Programme
• The development of a Washwater Recovery Scheme at Farlington Water Treatment Works
• The development of Havant Thicket Winter Storage Reservoir
The Secretary of State has questioned the basis of our forecasts and the appraisal process used to finalise our Plan.
Draft Water Resources Management Plan (dWRMP)
Executive Summary - Click Here
Volume 1 Including Executive Summary - Click Here
Please note that this file is large and may take a few minutes to download.
Statement of Response
On the 30th January 2009 Portsmouth Water published its Statement of Response to representations received on its draft Water Resources Management Plan published in May 2008. A total of 18 representations on the Company's Draft Plan were sent to the Secretary of State and initially the Company was expected to prepare a Statement of Response by the end of October, although an extension to the end of January 2009 was granted to enable further work on the Plan to be undertaken.
The Statement of Response sets out what changes the Company has made to its final Water Resources Management Plan which it proposes to publish later in 2009. The Plan looks forward for the next 25 years and identifies the key initiatives that the Company needs to develop in order to maintain secure supplies to customers. As well as reducing network leakage, promoting new water efficiency initiatives and beginning a programme of implementing universal metering, the Plan identifies the need for improvements to water resources at: Farlington; Worlds End, near Denmead; and at Lavant, near Chichester; together with the development of Havant Thicket Winter Storage Reservoir.
To view full text of Statement of Response - click here
Amendment to Statement of Response
In light of further dialogue with regulators the Company revised it’s Statement of Response by writing to the Secretary of State on 12th March. The Key Changes which were made to the plan were:
To remove all allowances for uncertainty in its headroom calculation resulting from the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (as recommended by the Environment Agency),
To include updated allowances for climate change impacts resulting from further research despite concerns from Ofwat about its robustness.
Remove from the list of feasible options the development of the existing sources at Worlds End Water Treatment Works and Lavant and Brickkiln Water Treatment Works. Both proposals are in catchments which have concerns about abstraction impacts upon ecology and are the subject of Water Framework Directive investigations.
To include within the Company’s least cost planning solution implementation of Universal Metering over a twenty year period from 2010 to 2030.
To view a copy of the letter of 12th March click here
Public Inquiry
The Inspector has now advised that an Inquiry is necessary to examine the Water Resources Management Plan rather than a Public Hearing. Defra will now agree a timetable for the Inquiry with the Planning Inspectorate and this will be published in due course.
The following documents have been published in association with the Public Inquiry Process;
Statement of Common Ground between Portsmouth Water and the Environment Agency Published 26 January 2010
Portsmouth Water's Hearing Statement Published 9 February 2010
Portsmouth Water's Response to Representations Published 8 April 2010
Updated Statement of Common Ground between Portsmouth Water and the Environment Agency Published on 20 April 2010 Portsmouth Water's
Portsmouth Water's Response to Representations - Erratum Published 6 May 2010