The biggest environmental investment programme you’ve (probably) never heard of – and your chance to have your say!

Nik Perepelov, RSPB Senior Policy Officer in England, encourages us to take part in consultations on water company five year plans ... 

2023 is a massive year for the environment and everyone in England has a chance to help shape billions of pounds of investment in nature recovery. They just might not know it yet, so this blog is here to encourage our members, their friends and families to take part.

Water companies will be consulting on their five-year plans, which will include huge amounts of investment in environmental measures- England’s biggest environmental investment programme, in fact. We believe that local communities should be at the heart of deciding how and where this investment is made and that our members can play a big role in giving nature a louder voice in this process.

What is a water company?

Most people could be forgiven for thinking that their water company is primarily a branded name on top of yet another bill. Perhaps you’ve had to call them in a panic when a pipe has burst. Recently, public concerns about sewage and drought have seen the water companies on the front pages and on the hook for the impacts of their operations on the environment.

Water companies do all these things and more. In a nutshell, their main job is to ensure that safe drinking water is provided to every home and business. At the other end of the pipe, they must ensure that wastewater is transported and treated in line with legal requirements. Depending on where you live, one company will do both of these things, or sometimes a different company will do the water stuff and the sewage stuff.

You can find out who your provider is here.

Spending customers’ money

Water companies are the sole provider of the water services in their patches and everything they do is ultimately paid for through customer bills. They need to agree their spending plans with the regulator Ofwat. These plans run for five years, so this is a twice-a-decade opportunity to make the case for investment in nature!

The plans will detail all their ongoing spending and future investment needs. As all water comes from the environment, and ultimately ends up back there, a well-functioning water network is essential to restoring the health of our waterways. As well as running their core business, water companies are also funded to deliver our national environmental targets, such as nutrients reduction targets under the Environment Act. An ambitious approach to improving the performance of existing operations and maximising the benefits of the new investment could be a game changer for our lakes and rivers.

What should I look out for?

The issues facing the water environment vary across the country, so there is no one-size fits solution. We think that public participation is inherently a good thing, as well as a much-needed source of local knowledge and passion for special natural spaces. We therefore encourage supporters to think about the issues that matter most to them and see what the plans are for dealing with those. Perhaps you are alarmed at the sight of half empty rivers in summer, or want to know more about plans to reduce pollution. We don’t want to put words in people’s mouths, but some issues which may be of local relevance include:

• Storm overflows: Government targets have put storm overflows at heart of the next rounds of business plans. Does your company have a clear plan to target the most damaging overflows? Keeping rainwater out of sewers can be the best way of reducing spills, so is your company maximising the opportunities for nature positive Sustainable Urban Drainage, like raingardens, wetland features and urban tree planting?
• Nutrients and river quality: reducing phosphorus emissions from wastewater treatment works is likely to be another big-ticket item in the plans. Is your local river or lake likely to benefit from investment this time round? If not, when can you expect to see improvements made? And is your company looking beyond chemicals and concrete to Nature-based Solutions such as wetlands, or working with landowners to reduce nutrient pollution at source whilst delivering rich habitats.
• Biodiversity, carbon and pollution: all companies are required to make positive commitments to improve their environmental performance across some standard indicators. Are these commitments stretching enough, and how and where do they expect to deliver them? Let them know what type of thing you’d like to see them doing to reduce their carbon emissions or improve biodiversity on their landholdings
• Supporting good ideas: company plans will ultimately go to Ofwat for final approval. We hope all companies will be sticking their necks out and proposing pro-nature investment. Where you see a good idea, express your support for it to show the regulator that customers agree.
• Transparency about costs: in touch economic conditions, there needs to be honest and open conversations about the impacts of different solutions on consumer bills. Is your company open and transparent about the cost of their plans. Have they ensured that there are sufficient protections for the most vulnerable? RSPB is proud to support efforts to help ensure that costs are fairly shared.

How can I get involved?

All companies will be running a first round of consultation events from late March through April. Keep an eye out for your local event here: Your water, your say - Ofwat