Environment

Our business is intrinsically linked to the environment as we rely on it for our raw product, water. For this reason we do all we can to ensure there is a clean, resilient and sustainable supply available for current and future water customers whilst ensuring there is enough water available to support the needs of the environment too. Click 'Discover More' to find out more from our Head of Environment, Emma Goddard.

People

Our people are dedicated to providing you with the best service possible, whether they’re out in the field searching for leaks, managing our operational sites, testing the quality of your water or answering your queries. Each and every person within the business is dedicated to delivering you the safe reliable tap water supply you expect. Click 'Discover more' to find out more from our Head of HR, Sian Jenkins.

Last updated 11-07-23

The water supply process is extremely energy hungry due to the sheer weight of water and the processes involved.

Despite this we are committed to the industry’s ambition to be Net Zero Carbon for operational emissions by 2030.

A routemap to achieve this stretching target has been devised and we are committed to doing what we can right now. You can read our routemap here.

Our performance commitment sets a target to reduce operational greenhouse gas emissions to 81.9 kg of CO2e per million litres of water put into supply.

How have we performed?

During the 2022/23 period, our greenhouse emissions have increased to 206.6 kgCO2e/Ml, leading to an underperformance against target.

The significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions is a consequence of our energy regrettably no longer being backed by REGO (renewable energy guarantee of origin) certificates. This is due to the volatility of the energy market causing REGO costs to increase by 1,000 per cent in the period – this is in addition to wholesale price increases, which have also been significant for everyone in the UK. Our original funding therefore did not allow for this increase in REGO cost.

We are working hard to mitigate this increase by securing direct green PPAs for our grid energy. Not only do these agreements give confidence to both ourselves and our stakeholders in the source of our renewable electricity, but also that, through our Power Purchase Agreements, we are supporting the expansion of additional renewable energy generation capacity and enabling further decarbonisation at a national level. In addition, we are looking at options to install renewable solar energy on our own sites. Our capacity to do this is limited, given limited land availability, however we are looking at options from ground mounted solar, to canopies, through to floating solar on some of our larger surface water bodies.

We will also continue to increase our use of electric vehicles (EVs), thereby replacing the use of traditional combustion engine vehicles, which has assisted in reducing our operational carbon footprint. We now have 11 EVs included in our vehicle fleet, which are used for a range of business activities, as well as a further eight electric vans on order. The continued use of EVs allows us to understand their benefits, constraints and requirements to develop our fuller EV replacement strategy.

Case Studies

Ardingly Drought

Record-breaking heatwave and drought

The drought and heatwave that affected the south east of England, the country, Europe (and the USA and China) in summer 2022 were exceptional.

River

Sniffing for newts in Farnham

Sniffing for newts in Farnham

Forest

Farm events to inspire behaviour change

Our team of Catchment Advisors work hard all year-round to understand, and mitigate, any risks posed to the health of our water sources. A large part of this work involves partnering with hundreds of farmers and land managers in priority catchment areas.

Fruit sprayer

Pesticide handling installation protects local rivers

Pesticide handling installation protects local rivers