Open letter from Susan, our CEO
This week, the Environment Agency is due to publish its annual review of Environmental Performance of the 9 water and sewage companies operating in England. The EA uses this Environmental Performance assessment (EPA) as a way of comparing performance between water companies and across years, using 6 specific measures. The rating for South West Water will be 1 star for 2021 and I want to acknowledge this is not where we need to be, and it is deeply disappointing.
Since being appointed to the role of CEO in 2020, I committed to work closely with the EA to target 4 stars by 2024, recognising that sustainable change would take time for our region, and that I would be open about our environmental progress, balancing this across a wide range of outcomes, as well as committing to keep bills as low as possible.
At the same time, and rightly so, expectations are rising, and targets are ratcheting. There’s no doubt, that the pandemic placed significant extra demands in the South West, with population growth, tourism and lock downs, all increasing flows. It’s clear, we need to go further and faster than ever before. Our 2,000 strong team are out across our region, 24/7 delivering improvements and keeping water flowing and resolving issues as they arise. I couldn’t ask for a more committed team of people.
If you look beneath the headlines, we are making a positive change. With a 25% increase in resources, we have strengthened our around the clock response. Pollution levels are reducing, down a 1/3 on last year, and lower than 10 years ago. Of course, any pollution is one too many. We have a plan, we are investing and it’s working, whilst accepting there’s more to do.
This includes deploying more technology and telemetry, using AI and data to better predict weather patterns and potential pollutions, installing thousands of sewar depth monitors, EDMs and flow meters, ensuring we have electronic eyes and ears everywhere. We’ve also carried out MOTs on all our 1208 pump stations, are accelerating plans to standardise pumps across our infrastructure, making it easier to replace parts, and have implemented a rising main replacement programme.
Everywhere we look in our region, we are surrounded by water, be it coasts, rivers, lakes or ponds. We have 860 miles of coastline here in the South West and that takes significant effort and investment to protect it. For the first time ever, we’ve achieved 100% bathing water quality, a huge achievement for the region, and for everyone who lives in and visits the South West.
I’m proud of this achievement. It’s also the reason why earlier this year, we launched WaterFit, our plan for healthy rivers and seas, which will reduce our use of storm overflows, maintain our region’s excellent bathing water quality standards all year round and reduce and then remove our impact on river water quality by 2030. None of these measures are covered currently by the EPA.
Over and above the 6 metrics in the EPA, we are also focused on another 33 environmental outcomes, all of which we work hard to balance. You can find out more about what we measure, in our new environmental dashboard here. This is all about ensuring we are transparent and open, about the progress we’re making and what we still need to do.
We recognise that we can’t deliver the changes alone. That’s why we’re working with farmers to prevent agricultural pollution running into our waterways and have invested over £20million in a new research centre at Exeter University so we can be at the forefront of technology and innovation, and our partnership with the West Country Rivers Trust has added 100s of community volunteers to help with self-reporting of pollution incidents. Our teams regularly remove over 450 tonnes of wet wipes from our network and each time a wet wipe is flushed or cooking oil is poured down the sink, this ends in a pollution of some sort, and that’s where you can help too. And in this hot weather, it’s also timely to remind everyone to do what they can to conserve water, our most precious resource, for the benefit of all.
My commitment is to keep listening to you, our regulators, our partners and campaign groups so we can all be involved in delivering the changes we all want to see. We will be open about the progress we are making and share regular updates on our performance to make sure the South West remains a fantastic place to live, work and visit for generations to come.
Thank you
Susan Davy, CEO at South West Water
12 July 2022
Download our programme update, plan for healthy rivers and seas, plus the latest bathing water return
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| WaterFit Update - Customer Update 2023 | ||
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| Our plan for healthy rivers and seas - 2022 | Bathing water return 2022 | Storm overflows: EDM Monitoring Annual Report 2022 |
