Southern Water, Britain’s largest water company, is preparing contingency plans for future shortages of water and drought by tankering water from Norway. Southern, with 2.7 million drinking water customers in the south east of England, would be able to import up to 45mls per day from Norwegian fjords, and pay for this from their customers’ bills.
Southern is currently in talks with a UK-based private company Extreme Drought Resilience Services to ship water from Norway as needed. ESRD delivers water in Tetra Pak style cartons or shipping containers . Megalitres are delivered by sea tanker. Environment Agency has contacted Norwegian regulators regarding the plan. The agency believes that the delayed delivery of vital supply schemes by the company is the reason for the delay.
The utility company stated that using tankers was a “last resort contingency measure” and would only be used in an extreme drought emergency for a limited time. Tim McMahon said that the company’s managing director of water has a number of options at his disposal, including temporary desalination facilities and agreements with businesses to conserve water.
Through a public consultation, the agency will examine Southern’s options including its plan to use Norwegian sea tankers which was reported first. It will also consider whether they are environmentally acceptable. It expects that the company will reduce its reliance on the River Test, in Hampshire, which is one of the most valuable chalk streams in the world and has been designated as a special scientific site, and the River Itchen Special Area of Conservation, as part of drought planning.
McMahon stated that Southern is working to reduce the amount of water taken from its chalk streams, and to build new ponds such as Havant Thicket reservoir in Hampshire. Water companies lobby regulators for the right to increase bills dramatically over the next 5 years in order to improve infrastructure. The campaigners claim that consumers have already paid for upgrades that haven’t been completed .
Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace UK, stated: “Decades spent neglecting Southern water infrastructure has left Southern with a choice between two unappealing alternatives as climate change threatens supply. It would be foolish to cause permanent damage to ecosystems in order to satisfy the short-termism which got us here. Water companies should start to treat potable water as a finite and precious resource.
In July, Southern Water ‘s chief executive received a £183,000 bonus , despite having submitted a business proposal that was criticised and rejected by Ofwat (the industry regulator in England and Wales) and trying to increase water bills more than other English water companies.
Southern Water is owned by Macquarie, an Australian investor criticized for its management of Thames Water. The company received a £1bn injection in cash to prevent renationalisation. Last year , another £550m of cash was invested in the company.
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