WRMP29 Call for Options

1. Introduction

We are developing our next Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP29), which will set out how we manage water resources to meet demand for the next 25 years and beyond.

We are developing our next Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP29), which will set out how we manage water resources to meet demand for the next 25 years and beyond. This plan will ensure that we continue to provide a reliable, sustainable, and good quality water supply to meet the needs of our customers and the environment. Our WRMP will be developed in collaboration with West Country Water and Environment (WCWE), the regional planning group established to develop a regional water resources plan for the South West of England. This collaboration ensures that all member companies take a consistent approach to the key components of their WRMPs that inform the regional plan, including the identification of water resource options.

As part of the process, we will identify possible options to reduce demand for water or increase supply of water. In doing so, we want to explore opportunities for collaborating on reducing demand for water or sharing water resources. We are therefore inviting stakeholders, suppliers, and businesses to share their ideas that could form part of our water demand and supply option mix in the future.

2. Options identification

The types of options that the Environment Agency’s Water Resources Planning Guidelines include are listed below – but please don’t feel constrained if you’re not sure where your idea fits in.

We welcome any ideas that you think could help us to reduce demand or relate to increasing our water supply.

Through the options identification process, we want to explore opportunities in the widest sense, for example:

  • a water efficiency scheme provided by a third party
  • a water trade with a third party
  • provision by a third party of reclaimed water
  • switching third party non-domestic potable use to non-potable sources
  • nature-based solutions for water resources management

We will feed options identified into our assessment framework and may ask for additional information to help with analysis required as part of the development of third party options. Screening criteria for third party options will be consistent with those applied to our own options and we will provide full justification for the outcomes of our screening process in line with our options.

3. Statements of requirements

Appendix A to this document details the specific option types that the Environment Agency’s Water Resources Planning Guideline1 (WRPG) asks each water company to consider in the development of their WRMP. This list is not exhaustive, and we would welcome other ideas that could be considered to supplement this list.

Options should be defined in specific relation to a region we cover; South West Water, Isles of Scilly, Bournemouth Water, Bristol Water or Sutton and East Surrey (SES). These geographical areas are shown in the figures below.

 

SWW supply map

Figure 1 South West Water, Isles of Scilly and Bournemouth Water

 

Bristol Water supply map

 Figure 2 Bristol Water 

 

SES supply map

Figure 3 SES Water 

 

4. How to get involved

Please submit your option via our Online Proposal Form by 30th October 2026.

Submitted options will be screened using the process we use for all our WRMP options. This will ensure that a structured and transparent process is followed. We will let you know if your option passes this initial screening exercise. Options that pass will be reviewed in more detail using our Bid Assessment Framework (BAF).

If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact us at WRMP29@pennon-group.co.uk

 1 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/water-resources-planning-guideline/water-resources-planning-guideline

Please note: the form button below will take you to the South West Water website. 

Call for options proposal form