Water as a vital resource is a growing issue and maintaining high quality water supply requires advance planning.

Every five years, Anglian Water, along with every other water company, is required to set out and commit to a Water Resources Management Plan.

 

The Water Resource Management Plan plays a crucial role in securing the public water supply for our region. It sets out our commitments to protect the region’s access to water in future, including solutions such as managing demands, tackling leakage and investing in resources.

We have already committed to halving the number of leakage incidents by 2050 and will be investing around £1.4 billion in water resources and the environment by 2025.

 

Our new draft Water Resources Management Plan has now been published. It sets out what we need to do from 2025 to 2050 in a range of areas including carbon reduction, growth, skills and jobs, climate change, and nature recovery.  It also includes plans for the new infrastructure we think we will need to meet these commitments. 

 

That seems like a long time in the future, but we need to look that far ahead in order to plan to build the infrastructure we will need. 

 

A public consultation is now taking place on our new draft WRMP. This is separate to the consultations on the two new reservoirs. 

 

You can find out more about our new draft WRMP and how to take part in the consultation here. 

 

In developing this plan, we are working with a range of stakeholders including local councils and other groups who have all shared their thoughts on future water demand. 
Specific plans for new infrastructure – such as the two reservoirs we’re proposing – are then subject to a development process that is regulated by the Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development (RAPID). It was formed to help accelerate the development of new water infrastructure. RAPID is made up of the three water regulators Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the Drinking Water Inspectorate. 

 

About RAPID

 

Plans for new infrastructure need to pass through a series of ‘gateways’ before they can be built. At each gateway, companies submit information about their plans. They are then assessed by RAPID to ensure companies are progressing with plans that best meet the needs of their customers. Ofwat also decides whether companies should continue to be allowed funding to further investigate and develop their plans to the next gateway.

 

There are five gateways in total. Gate one was in November 2021 and we submitted our gate two report in November 2022. The gate two report outlines how we identified sites and developed early concept designs for the two new reservoirs. 

 

You can learn more about RAPID and the process to approve strategic infrastructure plans here.