Regulatory Library

Leakage is one of our customers’ highest priorities. Across the company we have seen a 10% reduction over the last five years; in the Derbyshire region we saw one of our largest year on year reductions in the volume of water lost. ​

Across the company we have seen a year on year deterioration in sewer flooding, in part driven by the wet weather. However, in our Derbyshire region we saw a decrease in the number of internal sewer flooding incidents and external incidents held broadly stable. ​
This region is one of our most rural and a major focus of our environmental protection programmes which aims to protect raw water quality and delivery wider benefits to our communities. This year we provided 97 grants to local farms and landowners in the Bamford, Stauton Harold and Derwent Valley and Dove catchments. These grants help protect the quality of the raw water. We also supported a further seven projects through our Boost for Biodiversity fund. ​

Sometimes sewage can escape from our underground pipes, or assets such as pumping stations, which is harmful to the environment. As a company we have reduced the number of pollution incidents to one of the lowest levels ever, but unfortunately there was a small year on year increase in our Derbyshire region. ​

During the year we have also worked closely with local authorities to tackle flooding risks from multiple sources (sewers, rivers, highway drainage etc). We completed the following two projects this year:​

• Working with Derby County Council to integrate highway drainage in to our scheme to reduce the risk to 22 properties; and​
• A surface water separation scheme with Derbyshire County Council to protect 16 properties.​

As part of our commitment to be a socially purposeful company we have helped customers through our Big Difference support scheme, helped customers during an incident through our Priority Services Register and educated local school children about water efficiency and sewer misuse. ​