When developing our 25-year strategy, we looked at what we knew about the future and at what life might be like in 2035.
We then explored how we could best respond to these visions of the future. We also carried out our largest public consultation to date in order to find out what our customers, employees and other stakeholders thought about our current performance and future priorities.
One of the key challenges facing us is in the area of water resources. We typically receive a relatively low level of rainfall across the Thames Water area, with London receiving less rainfall in an average year than many cities thought of as being much drier.
We also serve one of the largest and most densely populated parts of the country, and the number of people living here will continue to grow. In the Thames Water region, we already use over half of the rainfall left in the environment after natural processes like evaporation have reduced the total amount of water available.
Predictions suggest that more people will be living alone or in smaller family groups, an effect which is likely to lead to greater water usage per head.
Climate change is also likely to mean hotter, drier summers,with a consequent increase in demand for water.
Future wastewater services
On the wastewater side of our business, the projected population growth in our area will increase demand for sewerage services. Some centres of population growth are located on or close to the sources of rivers, leading to strict standards for discharges of treated effluent to watercourses. There are limited opportunities
to further improve existing sewage works, making it probable that larger scale, more strategic solutions will be required.
The Water Framework Directive is also set to result in stricter controls of what we discharge into rivers, leading to major upgrades, and possible rebuilding of sewerage assets.
Over the next 25 years, further changes to legislation are expected to affect the investment needed to provide water and wastewater services.
