Sutton and East Surrey Water

All water companies in England and Wales are required by the Government to produce a Water Resources Management Plan to set out their plans to maintain a balance between supply and demand for the next 25 years.
Our Draft Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP) was made available for consultation between 6 May 2008 and 1 August 2008.
Our Draft Water Resources Management Plan was published in accordance with Section 37B (3) of the Water Industry Act 1991, and paragraph 2 of the Water Resources Management Plan Regulations 2007. We confirm that:

• we received the Secretary of State's permission to publish the Draft plan;
• no information was excluded from the plan on the grounds of national security;
• no information was excluded from the plan on the grounds of commercial confidentiality; and that
• any person could make representations in writing to the Secretary of State before the end of the representation period (6 May 2008 to 1 August 2008).

All representations received by Defra were forwarded to us between 6 and 9 August 2008.  As required by the Water Resources Management Plan Regulations 2007, we compiled a Statement responding to those representations.

As required by the Act, it details:

• The consideration that we have given to those representations;
• Any changes that we have made to the Draft WRMP, as a result of consideration of those representations and our reasons for doing so; and
• Where no change has been made to the Draft WRMP as a result of consideration of any representation, the reason for this.

In addition, the Statement of Response details:

• The consideration we have given to other representations or comments we have received on the Draft WRMP;
• Any other changes that we have made to the Draft WRMP, and the reasons for those changes; and
• Work we are currently carrying out that might result in a change to the Draft WRMP.

We have included a full copy of our Statement of Response on our website together with Supporting Information.

In a letter dated 6 August 2009 Defra confirmed that the Secretary of State had considered our Draft WRMP (published in May 2008), the representations made in respect of that draft plan, and our Statement of Response to those representations (published on 2 February 2009). The Secretary of State is now satisfied that we should publish our Final WRMP in accordance with regulation 6 of the Water Resources Management Plan Regulations 2007, subject to the changes made to our Draft Plan in response to representations received.

Material changes to the Draft WRMP as a result of representations received and other drivers such as the South East Plan are set out in the Company’s Statement of Response, published on 2 February 2009, and are described within our Final WRMP. A summary of the main changes can be found in section Section 1.3 of the Final WRMP. No material changes have been made to the Final WRMP since publication of the Statement of Response and the Final Draft WRMP on 2 February 2009.

The plan considers the options that are available to the Company for meeting growth in demand for water in the period from 2007 to 2035. The plan takes into consideration:

• The future demand for water from existing customers;
• Growth in demand arising out of new properties;
• Non-household consumption;
• The potential effect of climate change on resources and demand; and
• Demand management (leakage, water efficiency and metering).

Our plan proposes a twin track approach (a balance of resource development and demand management measures) to meeting a forecast underlying growth in demand whilst maintaining a reliable supply of high quality water.  Our plan also includes an estimate of the greenhouse gas emissions arising from the supply of treated water to our customers over the next 25 years.

A strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of our plan has been carried out by consultants to meet the requirements of the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive (2001/42/EC).

We have included a full copy of our Final WRMP, and accompanying tables, on our website together with an appropriate revision of the SEA Environmental Report.

Next Steps

Section 37A(5) of the Water Industry Act 1991 requires a company to review their Plan and to send a statement to the Secretary of State of its conclusions, before each anniversary of the publication date of the Plan. If that review indicates a material change of circumstances, and if so directed by the Secretary of State, or in any event within 5 years, section 37A(6) of the Act requires us to prepare a revised Plan.

Documents

(These documents are available in pdf format. Some computers may need additional software to read these documents.)

• Statement of Response to representations made regarding our Draft Water Resources Management Plan (pdf)
• Statement of Responce - Supporting information (pdf)
• Final Water Resources Management Plan - Main Report (pdf)
• Final Water Resources Management Plan - Appendices (pdf)
• Final Water Resources Management Plan -Tables (pdf)
• Strategic Environmental Assessment (pdf)

Related links

Water UK (www.water.org.uk)

The Environment Agency (www.environment-agency.gov.uk)

Defra (www.defra.gov.uk)