Response to freeze-thaw events in 2021 proved the water sector has improved its resilience following the Beast from the East in 2018, according to a report by Water UK.
Compared to 2018’s Storm Emma, the report showed a 25 per cent increase in burst rates during storms Christoph and Darcy in January and February this year.
This led to significantly increased leakage rates from the start of January and peaking in early February. Together with Covid-19 causing disruptions to programmes of work, the added leakage close to the reporting year-end made it more tough for companies to tackle that peak.
The report recommended the industry, along with regulators and government, should focus on reducing the burst rate during freeze-thaw events, to reduce leakage. It said a knowledge gap remains about the correlation between an event and the volume of leakage that follows so more data, information and research is required.
The prolonged adverse weather caused 500 flood alerts nationwide with six water companies reporting flooding in their regions.
Water UK found collaboration between companies, regulators, government and consumer groups meant the sector was in a stronger position to manage an unprecedented winter with minimal customer impact.
In 2018, 200,00 homes lost water supply for more than four hours and for 36,000 supplies were out for more than 24 hours. This led to regulators and government working with the sector to prepare for and manage freeze-thaw events. In 2021 the customer impact was minimal with just one company reporting supply loss of 24 hours.
Lessons learnt from 2018’s Storm Emma included improved warning systems for winter events, which are now built into companies’ models for supply/demand impacts.
A national incident response group was established that developed companies’ escalation processes and procedures, including executive-level involvement at an early stage.
When trigger points were hit, companies redeployed staff to focus on operational priorities to ensure smooth service for customers.
Companies now run multi-platform customer-facing campaigns to communicate the impact of frozen or burst pipes and encourage preventative measures.