In 1995 Yorkshire experienced its worst ever drought. The emergency measures carried out by Yorkshire Water to maintain supplies to customers, such as imposing hose pipe bans, were high profile and often unpopular. The problems encountered led to a step change in our way of thinking and brought the principle of sustainability into the heart of our business policy and decision-making.  As a part of this change in approach we undertook a complete review of our Water Resources Plan.

As part of this review, we undertook a series of detailed environmental assessments to look at our river abstractions to ensure the time limited licenses granted by the Environment Agency, which allow Water Companies to abstract from a named river at a specific point for a fixed period of time, were sustainable.  These assessments provided a method of investigating all the possible effects that a proposed abstraction may have on the natural and human environment.  Our unique approach to these assessments was based on various studies and surveys, which have been carried out since the early 1970’s, and intensive monitoring programmes agreed with the Environment Agency which started in 1996. The assessments have involved comprehensive monitoring of the rivers at over 100 sites.

Water Quality models have also been taken into consideration, allowing us to account for the effects of not only the abstractions but also discharges into the river and the natural river processes themselves. Due to the success of these models within this project, they have now been used on a much wider scale within the business.

Yorkshire Water recognise the importance of consulting with the public in order to listen to their views, understand any concerns they may have and ensure that we can minimise the impact of our operations on them.  In light of this, over recent years we have engaged the public in our decision making process and undertaken extensive open and proactive consultation to listen to their views and concerns. We held meetings with around 400 people, representative of all groups with interests in the river. In addition to large public meetings, we held one to one meetings with a wide range of stakeholders, including the Environment Agency, English Nature, RSPB, angling clubs and Local Authorities. When we evaluated the findings of our river abstraction review we undertook proactive and extensive public consultation to discuss these findings with our customers.

The new Time Limited Licenses which we have formulated will ensure that we can provide our customers with a safe and sustainable water supply for many years to come, as well as minimising the impact of our operations on the environment. In addition, the research that we have undertaken during this process means that we now have some of the best understood rivers in the country.

Over the past 10 years we have made tremendous improvements in ensuring the sustainability of our water resources and have received praise from regulators and the public alike for our honest customer consultation and commitment to sustainable solutions. With a secure supply of water for our customers, based around sources proven to be environmentally sustainable, we are now continuing to move forward and maintain our position at the cutting edge of Water Resource Planning.

Benefits

·   Ensures a secure and sustainable water supply strategy, benefiting both customers and the environment, for the next 25 years.

·   Addresses the high priority which customers highlighted in the Periodic Review 1999, which stated “Customers place the highest value on the investment already made in reliability of supply”.

·   Meets our Environment Policy commitments of ‘fostering productive partnerships with our stakeholder groups’ and ‘conserving and enhancing biodiversity through efficient and effective practices’.

·   Best practices expanded to the rest of the company.