Three Valleys Water - Water Efficiency - Managing water resources

Managing water resources

We are making our contribution to ensuring that water continues to be available to you whenever you need it. We do this by maintaining and improving water distribution through reduced leakage, increased infrastructure investment, extended metering and actively promoting water efficiency.

Heron Lake, Middlesex

You might ask whey we don't build more reservoirs to meet the demand for water. The water we supply to reservoirs and ultimately to our customers comes from rivers and natural underground water stores (aquifers) via boreholes. These sources are not an endless supply and over-abstraction of water from them to meet demand could endanger the wildlife of an area. Information on the challenges we face and the measures we are taking to manage our water resources is below.

Drought management

Our drought management plan looks at the likely prospects of a drought occurring and details the actions we will take to manage the situation to ensure all customers have sufficient water during times of drought. Three Valleys Water is working with other water companies in the south east, as well as the Environment Agency to move water around the region where possible to protect customers' supplies.

The hot weather and below average rainfall are of great concern for everyone in the south east, indicating shifting patterns which can be expected to be the norm as a result of climate change.

In the longer term all the water companies have 25-year water resources strategies in place to prepare for climate change, house building and increases in demand in the south east.

Working with environment groups

Three Valleys Water works closely with the Environment Agency to reach a balance between the demand for water against the availability of water resources whilst protecting the Environment.

We also work closely with the Chiltern Chalk Stream Project and Ver Valley Society, keeping them informed of decisions relating to individual rivers and addressing their concerns, as well as providing support such as attending meetings, printing their newsletter, and financial support.

Schemes are currently operating on rivers in our area that are at risk from low flow and over-abstraction. This includes the Rivers Misbourne, Beane, Ver and Hiz.

Click on the links below to find out more information about how Three Valleys Water works with these organisations:

Climate change

Three Valleys Water is a member of the south east Climate Change Partnership, who investigate, inform and advise on the impacts of climate change on the south east of the country. Click here to visit the south east Climate Change Partnership website.

Membership of the Partnership allows Three Valleys Water to keep close to the issues of climate change, climate change mitigation and adaptation in the south east.

Pollution

Seemingly minor contamination of groundwater supplies can seriously compromise our water resources and a number of incidents in the Three Valleys Water supply area have meant that we can no longer extract water from some sources.

At least one source of supply has to be taken out of distribution each year due to pollution incidents, which can occur by situations like a petrol spill, or be as the result of pollutants leaching from a landfill site into the rivers and aquifers.