We produce our Drought Plan every five years. The Plan sets out how we will manage our water resources in response to drought events. Our Plan covers both South West Water and Bournemouth Water supply areas following the merger in April 2016 and for the first time, also covers a draft plan for the Isles of Scilly which became part of our supply area in April 2020.

The Plan was prepared in accordance with guidelines issued by the Environment Agency. It describes how we intend to maintain water supply to our customers in the event of a drought. It also explains how we would aim to balance the needs of our domestic and commercial customers, the economy, and the environment.

The Final Drought Plan 2022 for South West Water and Bournemouth water, our Draft Drought Plan for the Isles of Scilly and a Non-Technical Summary can be viewed below:

Until 2022, our approach to resource planning delivered 26 years without restrictions on use, such as temporary use bans, and had met the challenges of increased COVID-19 demands and demand spikes produced by extreme heat and extreme cold, such as the 2018 ‘Beast from the East’ event.

The drought of 2022/23 was significantly different to previous experiences. While the South West has now moved from “drought” to “normal” declaration by the Environment Agency, it is vital to review how the drought evolved and the impact that it had on our customers, communities and businesses so that the insight can inform our water resources planning.

2022/23 was different, both because of climatic factors, particularly the combination of heat and absence of rainfall and because of the continued increased demand which resulted from the societal legacy impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. These factors were particularly acute in Cornwall and, later, Devon.

Significant efforts were deployed to safeguard drinking water supplies whilst protecting the Environment, with deployment of a number of Drought permits and water efficiency campaigns whilst working closely with stakeholders and customers. At the same time increased activity to reduce leakage and ensuring water losses were minimised.

Following recovery from Drought, investment has been made in new water sources including Blackpool Pit and Hawks Tor in Cornwall, new and enhanced winter pump storage investment at Restormel and Kennall Vale in Cornwall and the river Lyd and Gatherley in Devon. A new WTW has been built at Coswarth near Newquay to utilise water from the river Porth and we are at detail design stage of delivering a 20 million litres of water a day desalination plant in Cornwall. These interventions have resulted in an increase of 34% in Cornwall and 45% in Devon of supplies as a % of average resource zonal demand.

The lessons learned have been shared through our Water Resources Management Plan and we have looked to incorporate the learning as early as possible.

We are currently developing our next Drought Plan, which is due to be consulted upon in Autumn 2025 with final plan published in Autumn 2026. Whilst we complete this we have taken the opportunity to align the formalisation of the Drought Plan for the Isles of Scilly with the updated guidance that will be issued by the Environment Agency for this years updated plan. Therefore, the finalised Isles of Scilly Drought Plan will be shared and consulted upon at the same time. We have also taken the opportunity to review our Drought Control Curves at Colliford and Roadford reservoirs and shared some interim changes in these curves with the Environment Agency.

Drought control curves are a recognised industry tool to manage risks related to water resources. It provides a guiding framework for the type of actions that may be instigated and when to ensure resources are safeguarded.

These interim changes have included the benefit related to the investment made in additional water resources and how they have positively influenced the resilience across the supply zones. The interim changes are aimed at ensuring we instigate discussion with customers regarding constraint in water use, mobilisation of low impact drought permits early enough to make a difference and reduce the risk of needing to implement more impactful measures including Temporary Use Bans (TUBS) and additional supply side Drought Permits and Orders.

The revisions to the drought control curves for Colliford and Roadford are shown below and will be used to help managed water resources in those zones whilst we develop our updated 2026 Drought Plan.