There are many reasons for a company to think of switching water supplier. One of them may be the shortcomings of a company now. Another is the concern that they may not be planning and equipping themselves to deal with future needs.
Both of these are legitimate concerns, but in some instances, both may apply, adding extra reasons to consider whether an alternative supplier might be more reliable.
After all, no business that needs a regular, clean supply of water to operate can afford to have a supplier that frequently lets them down and prevents them from operating normally.
There may be several instances where such concerns are legitimate, but for businesses in Kent and Sussex, South East Water is a company in the spotlight just now.
Why Is South East Water Facing Criticism?
Canterbury City Council has just passed a motion to place extra scrutiny on the firm in response to its expression of concern at proposed new housing in the area, the BBC reports. This would be a county-wide probe, not just covering Canterbury.
This comes after South East Water’s director of operations Douglas Whitfield told a city council meeting earlier this month that it would “struggle to supply any housing growth above what’s included in our water resource management plan”.
Such comments clash with the plan to build 23,000 new homes in north Kent, across Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay.
The motion, proposed by Councillor Naomi Smith, stated that “public confidence in South East Water is at an all-time low” and described its response to the housing proposals as “woefully inadequate”.
It is certainly true that South East Water has been in the firing line for recent failings:
- Ofwat recently proposed levying a £22 million fine on the company for repeated water supply failures across Kent and Sussex between 2020 and 2023.
- Ofwat’s interim CEO Chris Walters said: “This investigation gets to the heart of the company’s supply resilience problems.”
- The company is now facing a further investigation by Ofwat over water outages in Kent and Sussex in November and December last year.
This raises significant questions about how much South East Water has done (or failed to do) about supply resilience issues, as well as what it plans to do going forward.
How Big A Challenge Is Water Stress In Southern England?
However, the question may also be asked about just how steep the challenge is going forward amid the broader concern about climate change and ‘water stress’.
While the UK is not listed in the recent UN report on the topic among the places at greatest threat of ‘water bankruptcy’, the south and east of England are expected to face growing stress as water supplies become scarce and demand rises.
Douglas Whitfield has pointed to the strain that new housing will place on demand in Kent, commenting: “Unfortunately, I can’t magic new water out of the ground in the short term, so the focus that we’re really putting on in the next five years is around smart metering.”
In the long run, Kent will benefit from one of the nine new reservoirs in England being backed by the government. The Broad Oak Reservoir will have a capacity of over 5,000 litres, although it will not be operational until 2035.
It may be debatable whether even Broad Oak will be enough in the longer run as the weather gets drier (meaning the reservoir will be full less frequently) and more homes are built, but that does mean the water company will need to be better at resilience.
Many companies were among those affected by the water supply issues suffered in November and December, as well as the previous set of incidents that generated the £22 million fine recommendation, so firms may think long and hard about what to do.
Does Water Stress Pose A Threat To Housing Developments In Suffolk?
Nor can South East Water be singled out. Across the country, especially the southern half of it, the twin concerns of growing demand and the impact of climate change have sparked real concerns. Building new reservoirs alone will not be enough.
Anglian Water, covering Britain’s driest region, was recently involved in a similar situation to South East Water over a proposed housing development near Beccles in Suffolk, claiming that 720 new homes would overwhelm the local wastewater infrastructure.
However, it has now withdrawn its objection, accepting that the development will take time to complete, which will enable it to build more capacity into the area.
Even so, concerns over the issue of water stress and the need for firms to increase capacity to supply new households with water and sewerage facilities will not go away, especially in drier places like Kent and Suffolk.
Business customers will, therefore, be wise to ask if their suppliers are doing enough to ensure long-term water resilience in the face of multiple challenges.
