South West Water is shining a light on its investment in the raw water resources it has developed across the region over the last two decades to help increase resilience in water supplies in the face of a changing climate.
Parts of Devon and Cornwall are now in severe drought after months of exceptionally dry weather and the hottest summer on record have put water resources under significant pressure, with some reservoirs dropping to critically low levels.
Recent rainfall is providing some welcome relief, but the South West requires significantly more to secure a sustained recovery over the coming months. While the weather has changed, the pressure on our water supplies still remains and the Environment Agency has revealed that England still needs at least 120% of average rainfall for the next six months to be considered out of drought by spring.
While South West Water progresses plans to build its Cheddar 2 reservoir, providing 20 million litres of additional water to customers a day when complete, many people ask why more reservoirs have not been built.
Over the past 20 years, South West Water has acquired former quarry sites including Park Lake in 2009, Stannon Lake in 2011 and Blackpool Pit in 2024 into its water network. In direct response to the 2022 drought, it also obtained Hawks Tor, a disused quarry that can be used during drought conditions. Repurposing these sites provides a quicker way to strengthen water supplies than building entirely new reservoirs.
When combined, these resources provide up to an additional 24 million litres of drinking water a day.
Repurposed quarries have the potential to play an important role in the future and current water network. They can store raw water and provide additional resource flexibility. The increased storage capacity helps improve resilience, supports drought planning and enables the company to make better use of available water resources across the region.
South West Water makes detailed plans to understand future water resource needs. The company looks at population growth and climate change along with water efficiency, and how much water is lost from leaks.
The company plans years ahead through it's Water Resource Management Plan and considers new reservoirs along with other options that can improve the resilience of the network, such as pipelines to transfer water between regions, water recycling schemes and storage facilities that increase reserves.
Paul Merchant, Senior Water Resources Business Partner for South West Water, said: “Some of our reservoirs started life as quarries, which then reached the end of their operational life, allowing us to repurpose them as reservoirs. Repurposing existing sites like this provides a more efficient way of strengthening the water resources network than building a new reservoir.
“By transforming these existing sites into valuable water resources, we can capture and store water when it is available and use it to support supplies throughout the year. Making use of existing infrastructure and landscapes allows us to enhance the network while reducing the need for new large-scale developments and helping to secure reliable drinking water supplies for customers both now and in the future."
For more information on South West Water’s current drought status, what it is doing to protect water supplies, and how it is asking customers and businesses to play their part, visit www.southwestwater.co.uk/environment/water-resources/severe-drought