Using data to build a resilient, yet adaptable strategy to deliver future UK water targets

2020 marks the start of a journey to deliver ambitious targets agreed between the UK water companies and their regulators. Company business plans have outlined investments to deliver over 800 megalitres per day (Ml/d) of new capacity and demand reductions by 2025 through short-term supply options, leakage reductions, and water efficiency programmes[1].

The new regulatory targets were always going to be a challenge, and no more so than with the flooding across the UK during February, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the drought we will almost certainly experience this summer. Yet despite these conditions, early indications are that the regulatory targets will remain fixed with no exemptions proposed. Data collected during these extreme events provide valuable insight into water management and serve to underline the importance of high-quality data, interpretation, planning, and an ability to rapidly respond to change.

Michael Butler, Technical Manager, discusses how recent events including the floods in February, the onset of COVID-19 and the impending drought of 2020 have and will affect the water network underlining how the use of agile data capture and strategy can deliver future targets.

[1] Ofwat, 2019

To read the related article on Frontier Leakage Optimisation (FLO), please click here

This article was first published in the Institute of Water Magazine.