The issue of climate change and the extent to which this is being
increased by human activities is a complex issue, and there is
still uncertainty over the amount of change occurring and what the
impacts of this may be. However, the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change announced, in 2001, that "most of the warming
observed over the last 50 years is likely to be attributable to
human activities"*.
Despite this uncertainty, Yorkshire Water has been proactively
looking at climate change and its potential impact on the
environment, our region and our business. We have considered
climate change scenarios and these have formed a key part of our
business plan submission to the water industry regulator, OFWAT,
and our long-term water resources planning process, which looks as
far ahead as 2030.
In addition, we are currently involved in a number of UK Water
Industry Research (UKWIR) projects, and are working with leading
researchers to develop suitable solutions to a range of climate
change related issues. These projects include research on how
climate change will affect rainfall events and the effect this will
have on our sewerage network, and how climate change will affect
river water quality and the effects this will have on both the
clean water and waste water aspects of our business.
To build on this further, we volunteered to be part of a pilot
programme testing Yorkshire Forward’s Climate Change Adaption
toolkit. The toolkit is designed to help companies assess the
possible impacts of climate change and ‘future proof’
their businesses. We have now applied this toolkit to a wide range
of areas of the business to enable us to assess the potential
impacts of climate change on a company-wide scale.
