Water companies must consider their interdependence with other sectors such as energy if they are to maintain their resilience to emerging threats, a senior figure at the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) has warned.
Policy adviser Francis Heil was commenting on the publication of the NIC’s report ‘Anticipate, React, Recover: Resilient Infrastructure Systems’ at the end of May.
Outlining the report’s recommendations at the first all-digital conference of Utility Week’s sister title WWT, Heil told delegates: “We can’t be resilient by thinking in silos.”
He said the interdependence between water and energy companies should form part of regional water resource planning: “We would encourage regional water planning to go further and consider the interdependencies with other systems including power, supply chains and communications.”
Heil said the water sector also needs clear standards about what is expected from infrastructure and services. The NIC urged the government to publish a full set of resilience standards as the first of its three recommendations.
“Standards are a really important part of resilience because they create transparency and give consumers greater confidence in the services they rely on,” he explained.
The second is that infrastructure operators should carry out regular and proportionate stress tests to make sure assets meet those standards under various scenarios, whilst the third is that they should develop and maintain long-term resilience strategies.
Heil said the focus of these strategies must be broad enough to include a range of measures to enhance resilience, including weather proofing, innovation and monitoring and data.
“Water companies have a very difficult task of balancing investment with affordability while managing uncertainties,” he remarked, adding that they should invest in options that deliver benefits across multiple different scenarios: “Smart metering could save money, enhances customer engagement and saves water. It is serving companies well during times of high demand like the driest May on record.”
The commission suggested they also manage uncertainty by building flexibility into plans, trialling options before scaling up and spreading costs over time.
Heil continued: “We’re really advocating options that deliver wider social and environmental benefits such as catchment management that can engage landowners, enhance the water supply and improve ecosystems while saving money. It’s about taking collaborative action and looking for cost effective ways to deliver results.”
He said the government and regulators should review water companies’ strategies and challenge their proposals to find the best options. He said they must also ensure there are sufficient incentives and opportunities to improve resilience: “They must remove barriers. That includes revising standards or regulation structures that constrain operators ability to adapt and enhance resilience.”