Environment

The water environment, the atmosphere, land, biodiversity.

For us to be operating sustainably, we need to help protect or enhance all resources and services provided by the environment that are used or affected by our operations.

We have a number of aims with respect to protecting the environment while providing water and sewerage services to customers. These include: ensuring that the water we provide to customers poses minimal risk to the environment; discharging effluents that will not compromise watercourses; understanding our energy use and emissions and working to minimise these; to understand how we might be impacted by a changing climate and to conserve and enhance biodiversity within our region.

During 2008-9 we have been continuing to protect the environment by:

• producing our draft water resources management plan
• continuing our investigations to understand how our raw water abstractions may impact river flows and the environment
• continuing to contribute towards the good quality of bathing waters within our region by ensuring that discharges from sewage treatment works meet European standards
• following our carbon management plan to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions
• embedding biodiversity within the company’s core plans. 

Explore this section to find out more about our work in these areas.