This includes:
- Developing regional plans which set aside water company boundaries and identify the strategic solutions that are needed to improve the resilience of the whole region
- Considering the needs of other water users such as agriculture, power suppliers and industry within the regional plan
- Increasing the resilience to drought by reducing the need for rota cuts and standpipes to no more than once every 500-years on average
- Setting expectations for leakage and household water use reduction
- Understanding the needs of the environment and addressing them in a collaborative way to deliver long-term improvements.
Water companies’ water resource management plans will be assessed against the new framework, which is part of a wider agenda to enhance the environment and build resilience of long-term water supplies.
The Environment Agency’s report on the outputs of this work is detailed and complex, so it asked Create 51 to produce a summary version to support its engagement with external stakeholders who, to date, have not been as actively engaged in the process but who have an interest in what the framework is, how it will work and its key outputs. Penny Hodge worked with the Environment Agency’s technical experts to develop an easily-digestible document which has supported a wide-ranging engagement programme.
