Bristol Water Drought Plan 2022-2027 Water Drought Plan 2022-2027

About our Drought Plan

Our Drought Plan explains what we will do in the event of a drought and is part of our overall water resources strategy.

Our drought plan sets out how we will manage a drought, and the actions we will take during a drought, including when we may need to restrict the supply of water to customers and what customers can do to help.

This is a summary of our drought plan, setting out the range and timing of actions we could take to ensure secure drinking water supplies are maintained as a drought develops and worsens, and what you can do to help reduce demand for water should a drought occur.

You can see the full plan, which goes into more detail here: Planning for Drought

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Your water supply Where our water comes from Bristol Water supplies drinking water to more than 1.23 million people each day. 46% Gloucester & Sharpness Canal Bristol Water supplies drinking The Mendip Reservoirs are also The Gloucester & Sharpness water to more than 1.23 million important habitats for wildlife, canal is owned and operated people each day. Our supply area and this is reflected in their by the Canal & River Trust covers 2,400 square kilometres environmental designations the and is supplied by the River and ranges from Thornbury and sites hold. Severn and other local rivers, Tetbury in the north to Street and the Cam and the . The in the south, and from The maximum volumes of water water from this source is Weston-Super-Mare in the west to available to us from the environment used to supply our largest Frome in the east. are controlled by the Environment northern water treatment Agency through abstraction works. Only around half of the water licences. The actual volume we use supplied within the Bristol Water varies daily according to demand supply area is sourced from within from our customers. Our current it, with the rest being transferred in annual average daily demand for from outside the area. This water the Bristol Water supply area is 276 is sourced from the Gloucester & million litres (or mega litres) per day 42% Sharpness canal. (2020/21 reporting data). Reservoirs The Mendip Reservoirs Due to the integrated nature of We operate four major and associated surface our water sources, we operate a reservoirs, Chew Valley water abstractions provide single water resource zone. A water Lake, Blagdon, Cheddar and approximately 42% of our supply, resource zone is the largest possible Barrow, which are supplied with groundwater providing area in which all resources can be from river basins in the approximately 12% of our water. shared. We use the water resource . zone for operational management, The water in our reservoirs is used water resource planning and to ensure that we have sufficient drought management. water available during the drier summer months and peak demand 12% periods when rainfall is lower. Groundwater As rain soaks through the ground it is stored in porous rock called aquifers. Our groundwater sources are all in shallow unconfined aquifers, hydraulically connected to local rivers. We pump the water to the surface, where it is treated and put into supply.

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What is a drought?

Droughts are natural events which occur when a period of low rainfall creates a shortage of water. There is no single definition of drought – they are all characterised by some degree of rainfall shortage, but they are all different in terms of where they occur, how long they last, how severe they are, and the resulting effect on water sources and demand for water.

Different types of drought Using our water resource modelling We have developed specific drought Although each drought is different, tools, we have tested our drought ‘triggers’ which are used as decision we can still identify different types of plan against different levels of making tools to inform the overall drought. The Environmental Agency drought severity to assess our drought management framework in identifies three main types of drought triggers and actions. terms of deciding when we need to drought which may occur separately take actions. or together: This work shows the extent of the actions we are likely to have to Our drought triggers are based on 6 1. Environmental drought take during a drought with a 0.5% drought management zones which A shortage of rainfall having chance of happening in any given reflect the phasing in of the required a detrimental effect on year (a 1-in-200-year return period). actions to maintain secure drinking the environment. The results of this assessment are water supplies. 2. Agricultural drought set out in Appendix B of our When there isn’t enough rainfall drought plan. These drought management and moisture in the soils to zones are summarised in the table, support crop production or Drought indicators & triggers next page, with the associated farming practices such as We monitor the water resource drought actions. spray irrigation. situation throughout the year and 3. Water supply drought across our operating area as part of When a shortage of rainfall our day to day operations. is causing water companies concern about supplies for their This monitoring ensures that we customers. can identify when a drought is developing and ensures steps can Our drought plan is focused on be taken early to help reduce the managing the effects of a water demand for water and secure water supply drought, but also considers supplies. what we can do to better support the environment during drought We use drought indicators to identify conditions, and to support other when a drought is starting and if abstractors within our region actions should be implemented. such as farmers during a drought situation. We monitor rainfall, reservoir storage, groundwater levels, river flow, environmental stress and other indicators such as demand for water to identify when we need to take action.

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Bristol Water RIVER supply area SEVERN Tetbury

Yate

BRISTOL Bristol CHANNEL

Clevedon

Weston- Bath super-Mare

KEY Groundwater source Reservoir source Burnham- on-Sea River abstraction Wells Frome Population supplied

Glastonbury

Drought Actions Bristol Water Drought Environment Actions A wide range of actions are available DMZ Stage Agency to us in order to maintain water Level 1–4 supplies during a drought, these Category

actions start with awareness 1 Normal Normal operation campaigns and appeals to customers to use water wisely, and progress to formal water restrictions in the form 2 Normal Normal operation but implement of temporary use bans and non- dry weather system management essential use bans.

The steps we can take broadly fall 3 Developing Level 1 Drought actions: Drought – appeal for restraint, into two categories – actions to – enhanced demand management, reduce demand for water, and action – enhanced leakage management to increase the water available for –reduce bulk supplies to third parties

public water supply. 4 Drought Level 2 Drought actions: – temporary use bans The actions we take are aligned to – Bringing disused sources back into supply (existing licence) the ’s drought restrictions ‘Levels’ 1 to 4. 5 Drought Level 3 Drought actions: – non-essential use bans – supply side drought permits

6 Severe Drought Level 4 Emergency drought orders

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Demand actions

As we enter a prolonged dry weather . For older style toilets, inserting a These restrictions mainly focus on situation, we will start to implement cistern displacement device, which water use by domestic customers actions to reduce demand for water will save over a litre every time the because this provides one of the in order to maintain drinking water toilet is flushed. largest water savings available and supplies during a drought. . Take the shower challenge to cut helps to protect public services and shower time by 2 minutes. This the economy by allowing businesses As part of our normal operations we could reduce water usage by 33%. which rely on water to continue to implement a programme of leakage . Wait until they have a full load operate. management to ensure that we keep when using both their dishwasher our leakage level as low as possible. and washing machine to get the Drought Order – Non-essential use We also promote water efficiency most out of the water they use per bans (NEUBs) all year round on our website wash. If the drought continues to and via social media campaigns, . In the garden – mow on a higher deteriorate, we will need to apply encouraging customers to be more setting to keep moisture in and to the Secretary of State for the efficient in how they use water in don’t worry about watering a Environment, Food and Rural Affairs their homes and gardens. brown lawn in the summer months. (Defra) for a Drought Order to As a drought develops, we will . Use a sponge and bucket rather further restrict water use through increase the profile of our water than hosepipe when washing the the implementation of non-essential efficiency campaign, making car. This can save hundreds of litres use bans (NEUBs) under the Drought customers aware of the potential of water. Direction 2011. In some cases, the situation and encouraging them to Government may decide to hold use water wisely. We will enhance We will also work closely with a public inquiry before a Drought the promotion of our ‘Leakline’ businesses/non-household Order is granted. service to encourage customers customers and their Retailers from to report leaks, to help us to keep the onset of a drought to encourage Full details of our demand leakage as low as possible as well as them to use water wisely to delay the management actions are available in increasing our leakage management. need to implement any restrictions Section 4 of our draft Drought Plan. which could impact their operation. As a drought worsens, we may Emergency drought orders need to introduce water restrictions Temporary Use Bans If the drought situation became to ensure that we can continue to Temporary Use Bans (TUBS) are significantly worse than the severe maintain vital water supplies for used to introduce restrictions that drought events that we have drinking and washing. temporarily ban certain types of planned for we may not be able to water use. This includes the use of maintain an uninterrupted supply Reducing customer demand hosepipes and sprinklers for watering of water for an extended duration. Customers can make a significant gardens, washing cars and other In this circumstance we would be contribution to reducing demand activities. moving to our incident response during a drought by making some procedures and implementing an relatively small changes to their TUBS can be introduced without Emergency Drought Order, where water use habits. If customers can the need for a drought order, but intermittent supply cuts or supply reduce demand enough, it may we will advertise our intention to via standpipes may be required. prevent us needing to implement put a TUB in place prior to the ban The likelihood of this occurring is more formal restrictions. being implemented, and customers, very low. Some of the ways in which retailers, NAVs (New Appointments customers can help are: and Variations) and interested parties . Turning off the tap whilst brushing will be given the opportunity to make teeth. This could save up to 18 representations prior to any TUBS litres. being implemented. The advert will include full details of what is being restricted.

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Reducing customer demand

Cut water use by Reduce water use by 33% Take the shower 18 challenge – cut your litres shower time by 2 mins

Washing your clothes uses a weekly average of 112 litres Wait until you have a full load when using your dishwasher and your washing machine to get the most out of the water they use per wash

In the garden, Every time you Keep in flush you could moisture save over Mow on a higher setting to keep moisture in the 1 litre grass, that way you won’t have to mow of water so often, if at all Save hundreds of litres of water

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Supply actions

Increasing the water available for public water supply also plays an important role in managing a drought.

Each drought is different, and we Firstly, we will discuss with the Drought Permits aim to take a flexible approach to the relevant water companies the When securing drinking water timing and use of supply-side actions feasibility of reducing any bulk supplies in a drought we need to to be able to respond appropriately supplies we provide to them in balance the actions we take with to the specific drought conditions order to make more water available protecting the environment. being experienced. There are two within our supply area. This would main options available to increase be managed in the context of the In some situations, we may need to the supply of water without the need specific drought conditions and the apply for a Drought Permit to vary for additional permissions. most efficient use of water supplies the conditions on our abstractions across the South West region. licences under which we operate. This could involve reducing the Secondly, we will consider the option compensation flows we release to bring disused licensed sources into the rivers downstream of our back into supply. However, this may reservoirs or increasing the volume only be effective for a multi-year of water we can take from some of drought due to the long lead-in time our sources. required to put sources back into supply. The decision to grant a Drought Permit sits with the Environment Agency and we will work alongside them to implement the monitoring and mitigation measures on the water courses likely to be affected by any of these Drought Permits.

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Customers and the environment

Our water strategy is based on the use of Temporary Use Bans, such as hosepipe restrictions, once in every 15 years on average.

During our customer engagement consists of expert representatives public water supply is significantly process for the 2019 water resources from departments across the affected. Where appropriate we will management plan, our customers business, that have the required work with the Environment Agency said that this ‘level of service’ is knowledge to support the drought to identify opportunities to support acceptable to them and this is what management process and coordinate the environment if it becomes under we have planned for. If we planned our response to the drought. We stress and there is not a water for less frequent restrictions, we will also work closely with the supply drought. would have to invest in more new Environment Agency and other water resources which would be used companies to share information Some of the Drought Permits we very infrequently, resulting in higher and co-ordinate awareness and may apply for during a drought to water bills for customers. We last engagement campaigns. maintain public water supply are implemented a hosepipe ban over 30 linked to some of the sites within years ago in 1990. We have a detailed Drought the region that are protected Communications Plan which under national and/or international We also set ‘levels of service’ for the we will implement as a drought environmental designations. As part frequency of Drought Orders and develops. Communications will build of the drought planning process, we Emergency Drought Orders granted on our existing water efficiency carried out a strategic environmental by the Secretary of State, and these campaigns to raise awareness of assessment (SEA) to assess the are set out in the table at the bottom the situation and will be ‘ramped potential effects of our drought of the page. up’ as the drought becomes more actions on the environment. This is severe. Drought information will be a statutory requirement under the Communication made available via a host of media Environmental Assessment of Plans Effective communications channels, including press and Programmes Regulations 2004 with customers, stakeholders, releases, social media our website, and helps to inform the selection and neighbouring water companies, TV/radio interviews, leaflets, and phasing of the demand and supply the organisations that regulate the posters. actions we have included within our water industry and the Government drought plan. This information will are an important part of drought Protecting the environment also be used in prioritising drought management. The shortage of rainfall caused by actions during a drought. a drought will have an effect on When prolonged dry weather the environment. Environmental If we apply for drought permits, occurs, we will form the ‘Drought stress because of prolonged dry we will work with the Environment Management Group’. This Group weather often occurs before the Agency to further assess the likely effects of our actions on the

Drought Action Bristol Water Level of service environment and put appropriate monitoring and mitigation measured Temporary use bans (TUBS) 1 in 15 years on average in place. We will also engage with customers and stakeholders as part Drought Order – Non-essential use ban 1 in 33 years on average of the Drought Permit application Supply side Drought Permits process to understand any concerns Emergency drought order – 1 in 200 years they may have. partial supply and rota-cuts

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Draft Drought Plan Public Consultation

This document is a summary of our draft Drought Plan for 2022 - 2027 The full technical report is available on our web site: www.bristolwater.co.uk/about-us/our-plans/planning-for-drought/

The draft Drought Plan has been published for public consultation to provide customers and stakeholders the opportunity to consider the proposals we have set out and provide us with any feedback and comments.

Thank you for your interest in our drought plan. Your feedback is important to us and will enable us to develop a better drought plan that meets the needs of our customers, the communities within which we work, and the environment.

We will take time to review all the comments received and write a formal statement of response setting out how we have used them to develop our final drought plan.

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Our public consultation will be open for a period of 5 weeks from 8th June – 13th July 2021.

If you would like to submit any comments on our proposals, please send them to the Secretary of State at the following address:

Via e-mail to: [email protected]

Please title your e-mail ‘Bristol Water draft Drought Plan consultation’

Or via letter to: Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

Water Company Drought Plan 3rd Floor 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF

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