Every five years water companies in England and Wales are required to produce a Water Resources Management Plan.

The plan sets out how water companies aim to meet predicted demand for water over the next 25 years, ensuring enough water is available to meet customers' needs.

The plan consists of several elements, including:

• A 25-year demand forecast describing how much water customers will need in the future, considering factors such as climate change and population growth
• A 25-year supply forecast describing how much water is available for use now and how this may change in the future, considering the impacts of climate change and potential sustainability reductions
• An assessment of the options to manage demand, including installing water meters at customers' properties, helping customers to be more water-efficient, and reducing leakage
• An assessment of the options to obtain more water, such as groundwater and surface water schemes, including an environmental, social and carbon assessment of schemes.

We also undertook a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), which aimed to assess the state of the environment, consider the potential impacts of the draft plan on the environment and consider alternatives which may have fewer impacts and a Habitats Regulation Assessment, which considers whether the plan in question is likely to have a significant effect on any European site designated for conservation value. 

The structure of our plan

Our  draft final Water Resources Management Plan is made up of seven volumes:

• Volume one: Executive summary of our plan
• Volume two: Our plan
• Volume three: Appendices to our plan - e.g. climate change and demand forecast 
• Volume four: Supply demand tables
• Volume five: Best Practicable Environmental Programme (BPEP):
  Assessment of alternative schemes
• Volume six: Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA):
  Environmental Report and Addendum
• Volume seven: Habitats Regulation Assessment