Water resources

Managing our water resources is critical to what we do. Over the next 25 years our area will face increasing pressures due to growth and climate change. Find out how we plan for the future and have your say.

Water Resources Management Plan 2024

All water companies in England and Wales are required to review and update our statutory Water Resources Management Plans (WRMP) every five years.

Our last WRMP was published in August 2019 – therefore, we are now embarking on the review and update of this plan.

Our WRMP sets out our long-term plan to maintain secure, sustainable water supplies to customers in the future (out to 2080) while also protecting and enhancing the environment. Balancing the needs of people and the environment requires a long-term focus to predict future trends in rainfall and climate, alongside the level of population increase and customer demand, and then plan for these.

Our updated draft WRMP was submitted to Defra at the beginning of October 2022, and we were given approval to carry out public consultation between the 28th of November 2022 to the 17th February 2023. Following our public consultation we are now producing a Statement of Response to address the customer and stakeholder feedback and views on our draft plan. The Statement of Response will be published in August 2023. These responses will help to inform our final WRMP which will be published in autumn 2023.

Water Resources Management Plan: Statement of Response

We have now completed our public consultation on our draft Water Resources Management Plan. Our Statement of Response to the consultation feedback is now available to read below  - this document summarises the responses we received and how we are responding to these. We would like to thank everyone who found the time to respond. 

Draft WRMP24 data tables

You can download the data tables detailing our water resource planning information as Microsoft Excel spreadsheets*.

*Some details have been redacted (excluded) from these documents on security grounds. Please find a statement regarding this below:

In order to maintain the security of the water we supply to our customers and in compliance with national security requirements as described in the Water Industry Act 1991 section 37(B), some minor details have been removed (or ‘redacted’) from the WRMP  documents that we have issued for public consultation. The information we have redacted is mainly about site names. Full details of these sites and diagrams are provided in the unredacted documents we share with our regulators so that they receive all the information necessary for a detailed technical assessment of our plan. We have tried to redact the minimum information necessary from the documents we have made available to the public. However, if you find that this makes the plan difficult to understand, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to discuss the best way to resolve any questions you may have.

If a paper copy of any document is required, please contact water.resources@bristolwater.co.uk

Water Resources Management Plan 2019

As part of long-term management and planning for public water supply, water companies are required to produce a Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP) and to update it every five years. Our current WRMP covers the period from 2020 to 2045 and was published in August 2019.

The WRMP shows how we intend to maintain the balance between supply and demand over the next 25 years. 

We carried out a 12-week public consultation process during March to May 2018. Through this we asked our customers, stakeholders and regulators for their views on our draft Water Resources Management Plan. We produced a Statement of Response following that consultation, which set out how we took on board the comments received and used them to develop our revised draft WRMP 2019.

The Statement of Response and revised draft WRMP 2019 were submitted to the Secretary of State in September 2018 to determine whether our plan could be published. In February 2019, we received a request for some additional information to support the Statement of Response from Defra. We therefore updated our Statement of Response to address this request for information and reflected this in our revised draft WRMP 2019. 

We genuinely appreciate the time taken by our customers, stakeholders and regulators in supporting the development of our WRMP19 and we welcome the positive contribution and direction that has helped us to refine our plan. All the comments and representations have been taken into consideration in developing our final WRMP19.

The Secretary of State has now reviewed our Statement of Response, and directed us to publish our final plan and accompanying documents.

Additional documents

* Some details have been redacted (excluded) from these documents on security grounds, please find a statement regarding this below:

In order to maintain the security of the water we supply to our customers and in compliance with national security requirements as described in the Water Industry Act 1991 section s.37(B), some minor details have been removed (or "redacted") from the Water Resource Management Plan documents that we have published. The information we have redacted is mainly about site names (these are shown in our public consultation documents as site codes rather than site names), and we have also redacted a diagram of our water supply network. Full details of these sites and diagrams are provided in the unredacted documents we share with our regulators, so that they receive all the information necessary for a detailed technical assessment of our plan.

Because we want our customers to have the most complete information possible on our plans for the future, we have tried to redact the minimum information necessary from the documents we have made available to the public. However, if you find that this makes the plan difficult to understand, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to discuss the best way to resolve any questions you may have.

Appendix A: Atkins Assurance Report

Appendix B: WRMP Consultee list

Appendix C: Research methodologies and outputs relevant to the WRMP

Appendix D: Customer Insight by Attribute

Appendix E: SEA Environmental Report *

Appendix F: HRA *

Appendix G: Problem Characterisation

Appendix H: Options Appraisal Options *

Appendix I: WFD Assessment *

Appendix J: Ecosystem Services Results

Approved trading and procurement code

RAPID Accelerated gate-one submissions: West Country North Sources and Transfers

As part of a national programme to investigate the potential for water transfers to other regions, we have worked with stakeholders to investigate a transfer option titled “West Country North Sources”. The summary report can be found below. This is a joint solution by Bristol Water, Wessex Water and Southern Water.

Bid Assessment Framework

Our Bid Assessment Framework summarises the processes for both assessing and encouraging bids from third-party providers of water resources, leakage and demand management services. This process enables us to consistently identify more efficient providers of services resulting in reduced costs and better value to customers. The framework sets out to provide third parties with confidence and clarity about the integrity of our Bid Assessment Framework processes, while mitigating the risk of actual or perceived bias towards our own in-house solutions.

Set out within the document are details as to how a competitive tendering process will work and the principles, stages and requirements which both Bristol Water and third parties, be they suppliers or other wholesalers and licenced undertakers, will be required to follow and comply with to allow us to trade.

We believe this framework supports our strategy of:

  • Keeping bills affordable through innovation and efficiency.
  •  Improving resource efficiency by cutting leakage and boosting water efficiency.
  • Keeping our supplies resilient.

West Country Water Resources Group (WCWRG)

In addition to third-party support services within the Bristol Water supply area, we are keen to discuss opportunities on a regional scale. We would like to explore commercial opportunities, links or partnerships with environmental groups, charities, and other interest groups, as well as opportunities to work with academic institutions.

We are especially interested in providers who would be able to implement end-to-end solutions from concept through to delivery, and particularly benefit realisation and innovative solutions, especially if they deliver wider benefits, such as green infrastructure. Support services may include the provision of leakage detection, demand management, water trading and the provision of reclaimed water to assist in resource availability for public water supply.

If you are interested in working with us to deliver key elements of our Regional Plan and can offer skills and services that will help us deliver our strategy, please contact us via our online form.

Water resources market information: July 2021 update

We publish key information in a consistent format in order to support the bidding market for water resources, demand management and leakage services. We've updated this market information in line with our WRMP and it's available below:

We’d like to hear from you

We are continually looking for new and innovative ways in which we can meet our vision, which is to build “trust beyond water – providing excellent customer experiences”. This reflects our mission to be a company that our communities trust and are proud of. In doing so, we will deliver excellent experiences and create social and economic value.

We would like to hear from you if:

  • You are in possession of a licence to abstract water which is not in use or is not utilised to capacity.
  • Have a borehole or asset on your land/site where abstraction of water for public consumption is potentially viable that you would consider selling. This could be an asset that you are currently not using or you are likely to cease using in the future.
  • You are developing technology which aims to reduce the usage of water at home or business.
  • You could provide leakage services.

If you meet any of the criteria above and would like further information, please contact our Water Resources Team at water.resources@bristolwater.co.uk

If you would like to submit a bid directly to Bristol Water, please complete the relevant form (found in our Bid Assessment Framework) and provide all available information to the best of your knowledge. We would encourage any potential third-party bidders to contact us directly – our Procurement team will offer support in completing applications. They can be contacted at procurementteam@bristolwater.co.uk.