One of the private water companies in England permanently in the headlines for the sewage scandal is Southern Water, which serves 4.7mn customers. Now, the company is in discussions with a private supplier to tanker water from Norwegian fjords to mitigate against potential supply shortages and drought, as the Financial Times reports: “Southern Water makes plans to tanker supplies from Norway’s fjords. Threat of drought and water shortages is pushing UK utility to make contingency arrangements”.
Any costs would be paid for out of customers’ bills. The plan comes as Ofwat, the sector regulator, has provisionally agreed that Southern Water be allowed to raise bills by 44 per cent over the next five years from April.
The need to consider water imports underscores the neglected state of England’s water and sewerage network, parts of which have not been upgraded in decades. About one-fifth of treated water supplies is lost to leaks, according to water regulator Ofwat, while no new reservoirs have been built in more than three decades.
