Water resources

Following consultation, our latest WRMP has been approved by the Secretary of State and we have been directed to publish our final plan and accompanying documents.

Our WRMP sets out our long-term plan to maintain secure, sustainable water supplies to customers in the future (out to 2080) while also protecting and enhancing the environment. Balancing the needs of people and the environment requires a long-term focus to predict future trends in rainfall and climate, alongside the level of population increase and customer demand, and then plan for these.

Our updated draft WRMP was submitted to Defra at the beginning of October 2022, and we were given approval to carry out public consultation between the 28th of November 2022 to the 17th February 2023. Following our public consultation we produced a Statement of Response to address the customer and stakeholder feedback and views on our draft plan. The Statement of Response was published in August 2023 and a revised draft WRMP was produced to incorporate our agreed changes. Our Final WRMP was published in October 2024 following approval from government.

Download Final WRMP 2024

• Appendix A - Turner & Townsend Assurance Report
• Appendix A2 - Turner & Townsend Assurance Report Addendum
• Appendix B - Pre-Consultation List
• Appendix C - Problem Characterisation
• Appendix D - Habitats Regulation Assessment
• Appendix E - Strategic Environmental Assessment Report
• Appendix F - Water Framework Directive Assessment
• Appendix G - Natural Capital Assessment and Biodiversity Net Gain Assessment
• Appendix H - Invasive Non-Native Species Assessment

Draft Water Resources Management Plan 2024 data tables

As part of long-term management and planning for public water supply, water companies are required to produce a Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP) and to update it every five years. Our current WRMP covers the period from 2020 to 2045 and was published in August 2019. 

Download WRMP 2019

In order to maintain the security of the water we supply to our customers and in compliance with national security requirements as described in the Water Industry Act 1991 section s.37(B), some minor details have been removed (or "redacted") from the Water Resource Management Plan documents that we have published. The information we have redacted is mainly about site names (these are shown in our public consultation documents as site codes rather than site names), and we have also redacted a diagram of our water supply network. Full details of these sites and diagrams are provided in the unredacted documents we share with our regulators, so that they receive all the information necessary for a detailed technical assessment of our plan.

Because we want our customers to have the most complete information possible on our plans for the future, we have tried to redact the minimum information necessary from the documents we have made available to the public. However, if you find that this makes the plan difficult to understand, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to discuss the best way to resolve any questions you may have.

Appendix A: Atkins Assurance Report

Appendix B: WRMP Consultee list

Appendix C: Research methodologies and outputs relevant to the WRMP

Appendix D: Customer Insight by Attribute

Appendix E: SEA Environmental Report *

Appendix F: HRA *

Appendix G: Problem Characterisation

Appendix H: Options Appraisal Options *

Appendix I: WFD Assessment *

Appendix J: Ecosystem Services Results

Approved trading and procurement code

As part of a national programme to investigate the potential for water transfers to other regions, we have worked with stakeholders to investigate a transfer option titled “West Country North Sources”. The summary report can be found below. This is a joint solution by Bristol Water, Wessex Water and Southern Water.

West Country North Sources report

Our Bid Assessment Framework summarises the processes for both assessing and encouraging bids from third-party providers of water resources, leakage and demand management services. This process enables us to consistently identify more efficient providers of services resulting in reduced costs and better value to customers. The framework sets out to provide third parties with confidence and clarity about the integrity of our Bid Assessment Framework processes, while mitigating the risk of actual or perceived bias towards our own in-house solutions.

Set out within the document are details as to how a competitive tendering process will work and the principles, stages and requirements which both Bristol Water and third parties, be they suppliers or other wholesalers and licenced undertakers, will be required to follow and comply with to allow us to trade.

We believe this framework supports our strategy of:

• Keeping bills affordable through innovation and efficiency.
•  Improving resource efficiency by cutting leakage and boosting water efficiency.
• Keeping our supplies resilient.

Bristol Water Bid Assessment Framework FAQs Bristol Water Bid Assessment Framework July 2019

In addition to third-party support services within the Bristol Water supply area, we are keen to discuss opportunities on a regional scale. We would like to explore commercial opportunities, links or partnerships with environmental groups, charities, and other interest groups, as well as opportunities to work with academic institutions.

We are especially interested in providers who would be able to implement end-to-end solutions from concept through to delivery, and particularly benefit realisation and innovative solutions, especially if they deliver wider benefits, such as green infrastructure. Support services may include the provision of leakage detection, demand management, water trading and the provision of reclaimed water to assist in resource availability for public water supply.

If you are interested in working with us to deliver key elements of our Regional Plan and can offer skills and services that will help us deliver our strategy, please contact us via our online form.

We publish key information in a consistent format in order to support the bidding market for water resources, demand management and leakage services. We've updated this market information in line with our WRMP and it's available below:

Water resources market information Bristol Water WRZ GIS data

We are continually looking for new and innovative ways in which we can meet our vision, which is to build “trust beyond water – providing excellent customer experiences”. This reflects our mission to be a company that our communities trust and are proud of. In doing so, we will deliver excellent experiences and create social and economic value.

We would like to hear from you if:

• You are in possession of a licence to abstract water which is not in use or is not utilised to capacity.
• Have a borehole or asset on your land/site where abstraction of water for public consumption is potentially viable that you would consider selling. This could be an asset that you are currently not using or you are likely to cease using in the future.
• You are developing technology which aims to reduce the usage of water at home or business.
• You could provide leakage services.

If you meet any of the criteria above and would like further information, please contact our Water Resources Team at water.resources@bristolwater.co.uk

If you would like to submit a bid directly to Bristol Water, please complete the relevant form (found in our Bid Assessment Framework) and provide all available information to the best of your knowledge. We would encourage any potential third-party bidders to contact us directly – our Procurement team will offer support in completing applications. They can be contacted at procurementteam@bristolwater.co.uk.