Water Resource Management

The chief executive of Bristol Water has warned that climate change will play a key role in the future transformation of the water sector, calling it a “huge threat” to resilience.

Speaking at Utility Week Live in Birmingham, Mel Karam said companies need to ask themselves “How do we respond to massive issues around the resilience of our networks in the face of climate change?”

Most human activities that use water produce wastewater. As the overall demand for water grows, the quantity of wastewater produced and its overall pollution load are continuously increasing worldwide. Over 80% of the world’s wastewater – and over 95% in some least developed countries – is released to the environment without treatment.

Current water resources planning in England and Wales tests the resilience of public water supply systems against the worst historical droughts in the observed record. This approach, however, does not assess how a water supply system would respond when pushed beyond these historical design conditions. This project aimed to understand the performance of different types of water supply systems to a range of droughts, including those that are more severe than the worst case historical droughts, 

The Environment Agency wants your views on the new water resources management plan guidelines.

The Environment Agency is consulting on the new technical guidelines for water companies to follow when writing their water resources management plans. The guidelines have been jointly produced by the Environment Agency, Defra, Welsh Government, Natural Resources Wales and Ofwat.

We want to hear your thoughts, comments and opinions on this guidance.

The central focus of this new book is a critical comparative analysis of the key drivers for water resource management and the provision of clean water - governance systems and institutional and legal arrangements. Through a series of case studies it is shown how decision-making and implementation at the appropriate geographic and governmental scales can resolve conflicts and share best sustainable practices.