Affinity Water’s shareholders will reinvest dividends over the next five years to help the company meet its leakage target and protect the environment.
Speaking at the Westminster Energy Environment and Transport Forum on England’s Water Market, Pauline Walsh, chief executive of Affinity said the environment must be at the core of all decisions and that water companies have a duty to ensure future generations have a clean, reliable water supply.
“We have reached a pivotal point in history,” Walsh said. “We all have a part to play as individuals, as representatives and as companies working towards a common goal to transition to a more sustainable way of living.”
To achieve this, Walsh said the company submitted its “most ambitious” business plan yet including a 20 per cent reduction in leakage and tailored advice for households to lower consumption.
She explained Affinity customers use an average of 158 litres of water per person per day, compared to a national average of 141 litres.
Walsh said the company has committed to invest £1.36 billion over the next five years and had the backing of the owners, who have committed to reinvest their dividends over the next five years to help achieve the plans.
“We all have a part to play in reducing water use and we are moving rapidly to change our approach to behavioural change and customer engagement by driving improvements in the qualitative research and data collection methods”.
Walsh said local authorities and social housing providers must be engaged in water saving initiatives to ensure homes are as water efficient as possible. She said a collaborative approach is “integral to the journey to create a more sustainable society” and Affinity will work with other companies on targeted community engagement to achieve that.
“We are determined that water has a seat at the table in the climate change debate,” Walsh said. The #WhyNotWater campaign focuses on water efficient housing and mandatory water labelling scheme for all goods.
“This will bring water on a par with energy in the climate change debate and help to drastically reduce the demand for water if changes the legislation are implemented.”
She explained the simple changes required to legislation would make a significant difference to reducing water demand to 132 litres of water by 2025.
On the supply side, Walsh said water companies must reduce leakage to demonstrate to customers that the sector is playing its part to conserve water and restore trust.
“It’s clear that we can’t expect our customers to use less water if they believe we’re wasting it,” Walsh said. She added: “2020 marks the dawn of a new era and going forward Affinity and the wider industry are becoming bolder than ever in its ambitions to reduce leakage.”
Affinity’s PR19 target is a leakage reduction of 20 per cent by 2025 and Walsh said she wants Affinity to “lead the way and to be up there with the best in the world”.
She said Ofwat was right to push the sector to do more to boost resilience in the face of climate change and population growth. “The way is clear, and the path is challenging.”
To conserve the environment, the company reduced groundwater abstraction by 63 million litres each day as part of a chalk stream protection programme with the Environment Agency. Affinity will reduce its daily abstractions by another 27 million litres each day and invest £17 million in its chalk stream programmes.