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Future Challenges for Southern Water

Dr Barry Cleasby

Introduction to Southern Water

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Southern Water Challenges• Building systems that better deal with and communicate the underlying

risk and resilience of operating our network

Issues

• Customers expect a constant supply of water• Climate change• Population increase• We cannot rely on historical data to predict future

trends

Solution approach

• Water Resource Planning – Stochastic modelling• Waste Water resilience

Outcome approaches

• Catchment management• Integrated Water Cycle Management• Spatial data management

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Southern Water Challenges

• Building systems that better deal with and communicate the underlying risk and resilience of operating our network

Building short and long term resilience into our service offering

Issues• Increasing failures• Difficult to detect

Planning approaches

• Data driven approaches• Targeted maintenance strategies

Outcome approaches

• Catchment management• Targeted maintenance strategies• Stakeholder management/involvement

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Data Led Catchment ApproachesStakeholder engagement underpinning a catchment-based approach

Partnership

• Partnership to address bathing water performance

• Key stakeholders• Multi-agency• Customer involvement

• Action required from all parties to lead to performance change

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Data Led Catchment ApproachesMoving to Integrated Water Cycle Management

A model for managing the water environment

• Building on existing catchment management experience

• Understanding all pressures and parties involved in water management and use

• Joint planning, decision making and delivery

• Integrated approach leads to more effective and efficient improvement

• Underpinned by new approaches• advanced bathing water

performance modelling• predictive catchment

modelling of pollutants

Southern Water Challenges

• Working and building to meet current and future regulations

Anticipating change with long term solutions

Issues• Stronger regulations from UK and EU governments• External pressures from climate change and

populations

Planning approaches

• Data driven approaches• Targeted maintenance strategies

Outcome approaches

• Catchment management• Targeted maintenance strategies• Stakeholder management/involvement

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Final considerationsSome questions to leave you with…

Challenge ourselves

• Can we embed a geographic and catchment analysis to an asset based system?

• Can we use spatial data and analysis to promote ecological resilience?