Hatfield, U.K. --- (METERING.COM) --- May 15, 2008 – Three Valleys Water, a utility serving 3.2 million customers in the Home Counties and the north and west of London, U.K., has produced its draft water resources management plan for the years 2010-2035, which includes the introduction of compulsory metering.

New housing developments, increased population, uncertainties of weather patterns and climate change are all factors affecting the future supply of water in the South East of England, which last year was designated as an area of ‘serious water stress’ by the Environment Agency. These and other issues were taken into account by Three Valleys Water in producing its plan, which sets out how the company will balance the supply of and demand for water over the next 25 years.

Andy Smith, Managing Director, Three Valleys Water, said: “As your local water company we face many challenges to ensure that we can provide reliable water services to our 3.2 million customers both now and in the future. We have already taken into account initial customer views about the affordability of water, our energy use and the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and our collective impact on local environments and habitats. Our Draft Water Resources Management Plan sets out the actions that we need to take to ensure that we maintain the water supply/demand balance while minimizing our effect on the local/global environment and ensuring that the price of water is kept at a level that our customers can afford.”

With a predicted 20 percent increase in the number of households and 12 percent increase in population over the next 25 years the company has set out a number of actions including:

• Introducing compulsory water metering, which will be phased across the company’s area to achieve 90 percent metering by 2020. Areas of greatest water stress will be prioritized as well as installing water meters alongside the water mains renewals program. This approach is more cost effective and has the added benefit of minimizing disruption to customers.
• Continuing to reduce the level of leakage
• Carrying out a trial to assess the effects of prices that change through the year, with lower charges in the winter and higher in the summer months when there are less water resources available and peak demand can increase by 30 percent.
• Providing advice and water saving devices for our customers to enable them to reduce their daily water consumption.