We rely on local rivers and chalk aquifers to produce an average of 544 million litres of top-quality drinking water daily for our 2.3 million customers across the South East.
We consider ourselves the guardians of the environment and work hard to protect and enhance the areas from which we abstract water for future generations.
The amount of water we take from the environment is based on our customers' demand for water and is licenced by the Environment Agency.
So next time you turn a tap on, flush the toilet or turn on the hosepipe, remember that water is coming from our environment.
Restoring Sustainable Abstraction
To secure the future of water supplies, we need to be sure we’re not causing damage to the rivers and streams we rely on. That's why, through our Restoring Sustainable Abstraction scheme, we are making sure we strike a healthy balance between taking the water needed from rivers and streams for customers’ water supplies while leaving enough for the environment to thrive.
Where there are other issues such as pollution, too much or little vegetation growth or the river channel has been artificially modified, we work with local landowners and in partnership with South East Rivers Trust to improve the river habitat.
As part of the Water Industry National Environment Plan (WINEP), the Environment Agency and Natural England have asked us to improve the ecological health of these rivers and streams:
- Bisham Brook, Berkshire
- Candover Stream, Hampshire
- Maidenhead Ditch (River Thames), Berkshire
- Upper River Darent (and tributaries of), Kent
- River Hart and Itchel Brook, Hampshire
- River Rother, East Sussex
- River Stour, Kent
- Upper River Wey, Hampshire.
We work with environmental organisations, local councillors, local residents and land managers to get feedback on the potential river and habitat improvements. We also work with farmers and landowners all year round to protect water quality in rivers, reservoirs and groundwater (aquifers) through our award-winning Catchment Management programme.
Our Projects
Great Stour Chalk Stream
Our Great Stour Chalk Stream project is a long-term plan to influence changes in land management, behavioural changes to water and approaches to development and planning by demonstrating and sharing the importance of groundwater and its role in maintaining a healthy river and its habitats.
Through water quality monitoring, river health surveys, and aerial surveys, we have gained valuable evidence of where water is being used and risks to the area's water quality.
Our pilot studies have delivered valuable insights into where water is being abstracted from and how the land near the river is managed, which can influence water infiltration into the groundwater aquifer.
These results are instrumental in shaping our understanding and guiding our future actions.
To affect long-term change, we need to collaborate. Through stakeholder engagement, we have identified land management opportunities to support the development of this plan. These include:
- Resilience to drought and flood management measures.
- River and habitat restoration.
- Sustainable management of water resources using an integrated approach.
- Creating natural carbon sinks.
- Raising awareness through education.
- Working with other sectors such as developers and highways.
Take a look at our video below for a case study on this project.
Maidenhead Ditch
Our programme on the Maidenhead Ditch focuses on three sections of the channel in the Cookham area: Marsh Meadow, Fleet Ditch and Strand Water. Over the past five years, we have engaged with local stakeholders and established a baseline monitoring programme, recording parameters including flow, water quality and macroinvertebrate populations.
We have undertaken further surveys, including landowner record searches, utilities, topography, archaeology, arboriculture (trees), and ecology (including great crested newts, reptiles, bats, dormice and water voles) further to support our understanding of the channel and adjacent floodplain.
This information has been essential in identifying and understanding restrictions which influence our design.
In 2024, our planned works included the enhancement or creation of wet scrapes and wetlands joined to the channel and selective riparian (bankside) tree clearance, which will improve the mix of lighting onto the channel.
The felled trees will be reused in the channel, where they will create berms, narrowing the channel, which will generate flow diversity by trapping sediment and debris in the branches and providing habitat diversity and places for fish to shelter whilst increasing the flow velocity as it is squeezed through on the narrowed and straightforward side of the channel.
Upper River Darent
Following an investigation that included consideration of the Cramptons Road, Kemsing, and Oak Lane sources in previous years, adaptive management was identified as the preferred delivery option in the current business plan.
Between September and November 2024, we are working in partnership with SERT (South East Rivers Trust) and AtkinsRealis to deliver adaptive management measures at Childsbridge Farm, on the Honeypot Stream, a tributary of the Upper Darent in Kent.
The works include Rerouting the stream to its original pass, widening the banks, curving the meanders, and creating a wetland to increase flow and reduce the risk of flooding in the area.
Pumping Tests
From time to time, we carry out tests at our pumping stations, from which we take water from rivers or underground and transport it to water treatment plants. These tests help us understand how the water we use from local water sources is linked to the environment, and to understand how our operations may affect natural water levels or flows, and how this may in turn affect dependent habitats.
We aim to undertake our tests when water levels in the environment are expected to be at their lowest point, typically towards the end of the summer months, when signals in the data will become most apparent.
At the start of our tests, we aim to establish a stable and steady rate of abstraction for a period of time in order to establish a baseline of stable and controlled data at the start of the test. When we understand and control these variables, this helps us to identify signals recorded in the data, which are a result of planned changes made to the abstraction during the tests.
Our tests may include periods of stopping abstraction for a period and/or pumping at a low rate for a period and incrementally increasing the rates of abstraction in order to change the signal recorded in the monitoring data in the catchment. The type and duration of testing is planned individually for each abstraction in order to address the specific constraints and/or data requirements for each abstraction.
During the year you may see our team out and about undertaking monitoring in the catchment, so please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions or concerns; or contact us online or via phone.
Environmental Surveys
With support from environmental specialists such as Jacobs, we carry out a wide range of surveys to assess the health of the river systems and provide us with the data and science we need to make the best decisions around the future state of the river.
These typically look at insects, plants, elevation and habitats.
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