Southern Water: update
Presentation from Southern Water followed by a Q&A session.
Additional documents:
Water Supply Future Demand Planning and Water Supply Issues
· Presentation from South East Water
o Douglas Whitfield, Director of Operations
o Nick Price, Head of Water Resources
o Jo Shippey, Community Engagement Manager
· Questions and Answers session
· Presentation from Southern Water
o Tania Flasck, Director of Water Operations.
o Sandra Norvall, Water Strategy Manager
o Hannah Morely/Mike Russell, Stakeholder Engagement Manager
· Questions and Answers session
Additional documents:
Minutes:
21.1 The Committee received presentation from South East Water (SEW) and Southern Water (SW) on their plans for future water supply in East Sussex and details of their response to recent water supply interruption incidents in the County. Both water companies are responsible for supplying water to different parts of East Sussex. Southern Water is responsible for providing waste water treatment services for the whole of East Sussex.
Presentation from South East Water
21.2 Douglas Whitfield, Director of Operations and Nick Price, Head of Water Resources gave a presentation to the Committee on the water supply future demand planning for South East Water. A summary of the presentation is given below.
21.3 South East Water supply drinking water over a large part of the southeast region. The east region is split into two areas, Sussex and Kent. Historically South East Water has developed over a number of years with the merger of a number of smaller water companies. This has meant that the design of the water supply network has evolved over time and would not be the way in which it would be designed today if starting from scratch. For example, the network has 86 water treatment works which is about the same number as Thames Water which supplies water to a much larger area.
21.4 There have been a number of water supply interruption incidents, including in East Sussex, as a result of weather extremes and water main bursts. In summer 2023 there was a short sharp hot spell which meant the demand for water increased. The Wadhurst area which was affected by a supply problem is on the edge of the boundary of the area that South East Water supplies, and it was not possible to pump enough treated water into the system to meet demand. This was not something South East Water wanted and was a result of a level of demand that had not been seen before. Post Covid there has been a change in the pattern of demand and periods of weather extremes (wet weather and spells of hot dry weather) have brought forward future demand issues. In response to this South East Water has brought forward a scheme to feed the water supply for the Wadhurst area from the Kent area to provide resilience.
21.5 In August 2024 there were multiple burst mains which affected the Robertsbridge area of northern Rother. South East Water’s staff responded to these bursts as quickly as possible, but the provision of bottled water was complicated by the subsequent burst of the initial burst main which was fixed and then failed again, and having to move the bottled water supply site.
21.6 South East Water has undertaken a review of its emergency plan to improve the response to water supply interruptions and is trying to react better to supply issues until infrastructure projects are completed to improve the resilience of the water supply network. The company has purchased two additional water supply tankers and has a further ten ... view the full minutes text for item 21