Our sustainability vision

We have set ourselves the goal of becoming the first truly sustainable water and sewerage company.

With the help of the sustainability charity Forum for the Future we developed a sustainability vision to help us try and achieve this.

The vision is in two parts:

• outcomes and
• mechanisms of how to achieve the outcomes.

Part 1

There is a set of ‘outcomes’, which would show that we had achieved our aim of becoming a genuinely sustainable company.

In summary, we would:

• help to protect or enhance all resources and services provided by the environment that are used or affected by our operations
• positively contribute to the health, skills, knowledge, and motivation of all our employees
• have relationships with all our stakeholders that are responsible, clear and co-operative, with governance structures and policies that support sustainability outcomes
• eliminate of materials that (if not used appropriately) can result in damage to human health or the environment from all our construction operations and asset maintenance programmes
• maintain a robust balance sheet and long-term stable relationships with investors that share the company’s commitment to sustainability.

Part 2

A corresponding set of ‘mechanisms’. These set out what we need to do – in terms of working practices and measures that should be put in place – in order to move in the right direction.

What happens next?

We want to put the aspirations of the sustainability vision into practice. We are working to embed it in individual departments’ business plans and communicating it widely among our employees and outside interests.

It has been developed around the five capitals model of sustainable development and considers the different types of ‘capital’ (natural, human, social, manufactured and financial) used by society and the value those resources provide.

Natural capital

Outcomes

For Wessex Water to be operating sustainably would mean helping to protect or enhance all resources and services provided by the environment that are used or affected by its operations. More specifically:

• working with others to help ensure that the environmental integrity and biodiversity of its catchment areas are protected and, where possible, enhanced
• managing resources, the water network and customer demand to the degree that water use poses a minimal risk to the environment
• ensuring that any disposal of sewage or other effluent on either land or into water is within the natural systems’ ability to process or assimilate them
• aiming for its combined activities to be carbon neutral with an active programme to ensure that energy is used efficiently to minimise consumption
• being in a position to adapt to weather events caused by climate change without harming levels of services and standards
• encouraging minimal use at source of toxic and non-biodegradable manmade substances, so that resulting sewage sludge can be safely returned for productive use.

Human capital

Outcomes

For Wessex Water to be operating sustainably would mean positively contributing to the health, skills, knowledge, and motivation of all its employees. More specifically:

• helping to maintain the highest levels of physical and mental wellbeing of our staff
• valuing the contribution of all current and potential employees
• having a clear remuneration policy that fairly rewards all staff on the basis of their contribution to the business, and provides mechanisms that help them to support themselves in retirement
• maintaining appropriate levels of skills and competencies in its staff, and helping to realise the potential of individuals, thus ensuring that core business activities continue
• ensuring all staff are aware of sustainable development and how it applies to Wessex Water.

Social capital

Outcomes

For Wessex Water to be operating sustainably would mean having relationships with all its stakeholders that are responsible, clear and co-operative, and having governance structures and policies that support sustainability outcomes. More specifically:

• providing water and sewerage services that support the health and wellbeing of society
• operating a charging system which is affordable to all its customers
• having the highest levels of customer service and satisfaction in its sector
• working proactively with government and other stakeholders within a regulatory environment that delivers sustainability and helps ensure that all water companies achieve high standards
• contributing to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals for water and sanitation, through partnership and ambitious engagement programmes with non-governmental organisations and other interests
• managing a community engagement programme, with a particular focus on the local communities and economies of the Wessex Water region.

Manufactured capital

Outcomes

For Wessex Water to be operating sustainably would mean eliminating materials that (if not used appropriately) can result in damage to human health or the environment, from all its construction operations and asset maintenance programmes. More specifically:

• using sustainability appraisals within all of the company’s construction planning
• generating zero waste in design and construction, through the reduction, reuse and recycling of excess materials
• choosing materials on the basis of appropriate life-cycle analysis, to minimise the embodied energy of construction and infrastructure projects
• giving preference to soft engineering and water demand management over material-intensive alternatives
• having a supplier base dominated by companies that incorporate sustainability into their goods and services. Also, favouring local suppliers where possible
• working with other interests to devise treatment standards and process technologies that contribute to the achievement of genuinely sustainable solutions.

Financial capital

Outcomes

For Wessex Water to be operating sustainably would mean maintaining a robust balance sheet and long-term stable relationships with shareholders and creditors, who share the company’s commitment to sustainability. More specifically:

• working actively with the financial community and the regulator to help reduce risk and the cost of capital
• wherever possible being open about the company’s operations, policy and strategy, without jeopardising commercial confidentiality
• having governance structures that are aligned with our overarching vision of operating as a genuinely sustainable enterprise
• being able to demonstrate added value to society and the environment through the systematic use of sustainability accounting practices
• being considered to be prudent and well-managed by financial ratings companies.