Droughts are caused by natural variability in our climate, which leads to a long-term rainfall deficit known as droughts. In order to plan for these periods, Welsh Water, as well as all other UK water companies, produce a ‘Drought Plan’.
The Welsh Water Drought Plan outlines our strategy for managing operations through these periods that could result in significant shortages in water resource. Our drought plan provides a detailed description of the steps we would consider during a drought, on a zonal basis across our supply area, to ensure we maintain as high a level of service to our customers as possible. We make no apologies for the fact that our Drought Plan is complex, it shows that we have considered our operational solutions extensively.
Additionally Welsh Water takes the environment in which we operate seriously. There are around 90 Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) in Wales and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) cover over 10 per cent of the land area of Wales. As such we have provided a detailed environmental scoping report. We are dedicated to providing a thorough monitoring programme to ensure that we minimise the impact we will have on the environment, even through a drought.
Please click here to read a summary of our Drought Plan. Alternatively our full Drought Plan is available by selecting the following option:
In accordance with Welsh Language policy from the Welsh Assembly Government, the full Draft Drought Plan is provided in English only.
Dwr Cymru Welsh Water has been consulting on its Draft Drought Plan. The period of consultation ended on 8 September 2006 and we are now pleased to publish the Statement of Response to our representations. A copy of this Statement has been provided to the Welsh Assembly Government and we now await their response to the consultation process.