Supporting documents

Many thanks for getting in touch.

Water companies are required to produce a Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP) every five years, to ensure they can provide a secure and sustainable water supply to customers during at least the next 25 years.

Water companies in the South East of England have worked together to develop a plan for the whole region, looking 50 years ahead, in recognition of the pressures on our water resources - from population growth, climate change and the need to leave more water in the environment to benefit nature.

Thames Water, and the other companies serving the South East, have reflected the South East regional plan in their own draft WRMPs, which were published in Autumn 2022 for public consultation. 

An important principle in the draft regional plan and draft WRMPs is the protection and improvement of the environment and ensuring abstraction of water from rivers and groundwater sources is sustainable.

Thames Water's draft plan sets out the challenges in the company's region and the strategy to ensure a secure and sustainable future water supply. 

The strategy has two main components to long term water supply, namely:

1) Making effective use of the water that is available through tackling leakage, installing smart water meters and working with Government, stakeholders and customers to ensure we all use water wisely 

2) Developing new sources of water, which include a new abstraction in west London, supported by water recycling, and a new reservoir in Oxfordshire.

Thames Water's response to consultation feedback on its draft WRMP, together with its revised draft WRMP, will be published by the end of August 2023, at the same time as the revised draft South East regional plan also comes out.

Hello, it can be found via the Our consultation page - Our consultation | Water Resources South East (engagementhq.com) - or by direct link to https://wrse.uk.engagementhq.com/our-consultation/survey_tools/wrse-draft-best-value-regional-plan-feedback-survey. All the best

Southern Water is proposing a new reservoir near Blackstone in West Sussex. This is referred to as the River Adur Offline Reservoir in the company's draft WRMP24 technical documents. 

This reservoir would have a capacity of 4.6 billion litres of water and would supply around 20 million litres per day to customers across Sussex. This new source is needed by 2045. 

The reservoir would be filled by pumping a maximum of 30 million litres of water per day from the eastern branch of the River Adur. It would then be treated at a nearby supply works, before being distributed to customers. 

Reservoirs are complex projects and their planning can take a long time. Southern Water expects this project will take over ten years to plan and build. 

After 2025, Southern Water will start more detailed planning, including engaging with local communities, as it identifies a suitable location - providing more detail on the exact location, size and shape of the reservoir and, where needed, beginning any necessary planning consultations before construction begins.