As water companies in England and Wales embark on the 2025-2030 investment period – AMP8 – Ian Thompson, vice president at Xylem UK, reflects on the highlights of AMP7 and sets out next steps.
With a quadrupling of new investment and a strong emphasis on innovation, the coming five years will be transformative for water.
Despite AMP7’s challenges and intense public scrutiny, water companies still have much to be proud of. They continue to provide high-quality services at a cost-effective price, certainly when compared to other utilities. It could be argued this has come at the cost of reduced investment, however, the unprecedented £104bn investment agreed by Ofwat addresses this.
A big success of the last five years was the increased use of data to monitor networks and enhance performance, in areas such as water quality. During the AMP, as people found a new appreciation for open water and wild swimming, stakeholders committed to working much more closely to improve our natural environment.
Great progress was made, with the implementation of new predictive analytics tools now enabling companies to make decisions based on real-time insights, while also informing communities about the quality of their local rivers and coastlines.
Over the next five years, volumes of data from across all areas of operations will significantly increase. How companies manage and harness that data will be key to determining success in AMP8.
Capacity to innovate
Another key AMP7 accomplishment was launch of initiatives that are growing capacity to innovate, such as the Water Innovation 2050 strategy, Spring centre of excellence and Ofwat’s innovation fund, which will double in AMP8 to £400 million.
With this come great opportunities for technology providers, providing we communicate our ideas to the sector effectively. Knowledge-sharing and communication should not be overlooked in the innovation process – a greater awareness of trial outcomes and new developments should accelerate the adoption of proven technologies, particularly those already delivering results outside the UK.
On the utility side, I hope companies continue to embrace fresh approaches and receptivity to both success and the risk of failure, so that a robust culture of innovation can become fully embedded by 2030.
Supply chain resilience
Global events over the last five years have taught us there will be future unknown challenges that will test all companies.
When choosing new partners and suppliers, it is important to ensure they are committed to the sector and are flexible and resilient. In a fast-moving, dynamic world, partners must demonstrate an ability to respond to unprecedented macro-events, as well as challenging localised incidents.
In a continually changing market, to help ensure their chosen suppliers can meet future demand, companies should plan and forecast for materials as early as possible. Global manufacturers cannot build new teams and products in a day, it takes months of planning. Timely and accurate forecasts will support production and delivery schedules and can shorten lead times.
An attractive sector
To deliver what is the largest ever capital programme for water, while meeting 2030 net zero goals, the sector must attract skilled, knowledgeable and committed people.
Contributing to the future of UK water is highly rewarding and there are real opportunities to make a difference. This needs to be related to an increasingly competitive job market, as do the exciting developments that are modernising water, helping build a more sustainable, high-performing sector – the roll-out of smart meters, pumps that can be monitored remotely, real-time water-quality sensors and low-energy pumps just a few of many examples.
Xylem’s technology centre in Cambridge has launched numerous technologies like these into the UK market over the last five years and will continue to invest in new products this AMP.
Lastly, water is on the cusp of transformation but there is work to do to rebuild customer perception. We all have a part to play when it comes to better communicating the challenges we are tackling and the steps we are taking to address them.
