Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water is a not-for-profit company which supplies drinking water and wastewater services to most of

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and parts of western England that border Wales. In total, it serves around 1.4 million households and businesses and around three million people - and supplies nearly 830 million litres of drinking water per day. It is regulated under the Water Industry Act 1991 as amended by the Water Act 2014.

History

Welsh Water originated from the privatisation in 1989 of water supply and waste water arms of the Welsh Water Authority which itself had its origins in the Welsh National Water Development Authority that was created by the 1973 restructuring of the

water industry The water industry provides drinking water and wastewater services (including sewage treatment) to residential, commercial, and industrial sectors of the economy. Typically public utilities operate water supply networks. The water industry doe ...

in England and Wales. Welsh Water Authority was privatised by stock market flotation in 1989, along with the other nine regional water authorities, which provided the company with a substantial cash surplus for some years, which it used to diversify in a wide range of sectors including leisure (Hotels, Fishing etc.). It renamed itself

Hyder Hyder can refer to: Places *Hyder, Alaska, U.S. **Hyder Seaplane Base *Hyder, Arizona, U.S. ** Hyder Valley * Hyder Creek, is a river in New York, U.S. Other uses * Hyder (defunct company), a former Welsh utility company ** Hyder Consulting, a su ...

in 1996 after taking over a local electricity company ( SWALEC) and becoming a water and electricity

multi-utility Multi-utility relates to companies offering a wide range of services and/or products. In the business market, this type of service provision usually relates to energy, environmental services, waste issues, infrastructure and/or telecom services. I ...

. However, in 1999/2000, following the

Windfall Tax A windfall tax is a higher tax rate on profits that ensue from a sudden windfall gain to a particular company or industry. There have been windfall taxes in various countries across the world, including Mongolia, Australia, and on wind power in Tu ...

on utility profits and the 1999 Ofwat price review, Hyder got into financial difficulties which led to its breakup following a takeover battle. Western Power Distribution purchased Hyder on 15 September 2000 with a view to acquiring its electricity distribution business, and rapidly sold off Hyder's other assets. Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water was sold, along with £1.85 billion of Hyder debt, for £1 by WPD to Glas Cymru, a company set up by Nigel Annett and Chris Jones with the support of the company's first chairman Lord Burns to run the company for public benefit. Under the terms of its licence, Glas Cymru, a

company limited by guarantee In British, Australian, Bermudian, Hong Kong and Irish company law (and previously New Zealand), a company limited by guarantee (CLG) is a type of corporation used primarily (but not exclusively) for non-profit organisations that require legal pe ...

, may not operate in sectors other than water.

Business

Measured by turnover, Welsh Water is the fifth-largest company based in Wales and employs more than 3,500 people. Its asset base is valued at more than £26 billion - and includes: *Maintaining over 26,500 km of water mains *Over 36,000 km of sewers *Managing over 830 wastewater treatment works *Analysing more than 600,000 tests a year sampling drinking water *Looking after 92 reservoirs

Coverage

In general, it provides services and operates across Wales from the catchments of the River Dee,

River Clwyd The River Clwyd (Welsh: ''Afon Clwyd'') is a river in Wales that rises in the Clocaenog Forest () northwest of Corwen. Its total length is . It flows due south until, at Melin-y-wig, it veers north-eastwards, tracking the A494 and passing t ...

in the north, round to the

River Usk The River Usk (; cy, Afon Wysg) rises on the northern slopes of the Black Mountain (''y Mynydd Du''), Wales, in the westernmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Initially forming the boundary between Carmarthenshire and Powys, it fl ...

and

River Wye The River Wye (; cy, Afon Gwy ) is the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, fourth-longest river in the UK, stretching some from its source on Plynlimon in mid Wales to the Severn estuary. For much of its length the river forms part of Wal ...

in the south, and everything to the west of these catchments. This means that it includes part of the Wirral and

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, and also parts of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, and

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

, particularly

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

. It excludes those areas supplied by private water utilities such as

Hafren Dyfrdwy (, after the two main rivers in its region) is a water company providing water and wastewater treatment services, operating in north east and mid Wales. It provides water only in Wrexham and parts of Denbighshire and Flintshire and both water ...

which operates in the River Dee catchment supplying parts of north east and mid Wales. Hafren Dyfrdwy was formed from parts of the Dee Valley Water business, which is now a subsidiary of Severn Trent plc, and runs its operations in Wales. It also excludes any area of Wales drained by the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

, which are currently served by Hafren Dyfrdwy, after Severn Trent combined all of its coverage areas in Wales with the Welsh parts of Dee Valley Water, following its takeover of that company.

Not-for-profit status

In 2001, Welsh Water became a not-for-profit organisation with no shareholders. This differentiates it from all the other Water companies operating in England and restores it to the same organisational status as water supply utilities in Scotland and the pre-privatisation water supply undertakings in England. Under Glas Cymru's ownership, the company's assets and capital investment are financed by bonds and retained financial surpluses. The Glas Cymru business model aims to reduce Welsh Water's asset financing cost, the

’s single biggest cost. Financing efficiency savings to date have largely been used to build up reserves to insulate Welsh Water and its customers from any unexpected costs and also to improve credit quality. As of 2019, the company has the strongest credit ratings among the England and Wales-based water and sewerage companies Water industry. When it was established as a not-for-profit company, Welsh Water had a gearing level (the ratio of net debt to Regulatory Capital Value) of around 93%. Since 2001, the company has reduced this level to 58% in 2021–2022.

Not-for-profit 'dividends'

Part of Welsh Water's not-for-profit model means any surplus money is reinvested back into the business or into customer services, or to reduce customer bills. To date, around £450 million has been reinvested in such ways.

Visitor attractions and reservoirs

Welsh Water owns more than 90 dams and reservoirs across its areas of operation - including a number of flagship visitor attractions. These generally provide access to the reservoir and surrounding land, but also provide visitor centres, leisure facilities, walking routes, and cafes. Their main visitor attraction sites are: * Elan Valley Reservoirs, in

Mid Wales Mid Wales ( cy, Canolbarth Cymru or simply ''Y Canolbarth'', meaning "the midlands") or Central Wales refers to a region of Wales, encompassing its midlands, in-between North Wales and South Wales. The Mid Wales Regional Committee of the Senedd ...

* Llandegfedd Reservoir, near

Pontypool Pontypool ( cy, Pont-y-pŵl ) is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales. It has a population of 28,970. Location It is situated on the Afon Lwyd ri ...

Llyn Brenig Llyn Brenig is a reservoir located on Denbigh Moors in North Wales. The artificial lake, which was constructed between 1973 and 1976, was created by building an embankment dam across the ''Afon Brenig'' valley. It lies at above sea level on t ...

, in Cerrigydrudion, Conwy * Llys y Fran, on the southern slopes of the

Preseli Mountains The Preseli Hills or, as they are known locally and historically, Preseli Mountains, (Welsh: ''Mynyddoedd y Preseli / Y Preselau'' , ) is a range of hills in western Wales, mostly within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The range stret ...

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

In January 2016, following the scrapping of Western Power Distribution plans to redevelop

Llanishen Reservoir Llanishen Reservoir ( cy, Cronfa Ddŵr Llanisien) is a Victorian reservoir in North Cardiff in Wales. The reservoir is one of the reservoirs constructed as part of the Taff Fawr scheme for supplying water to Cardiff and was completed in 1886. I ...

for housing, Welsh Water acquired both Llanishen and Lisvane Reservoirs from steel company

CELSA Group CELSA Group is a multinational group of steel companies headquartered in Spain, mainly in the industry of steel reinforcement or rebar. History It was formed in 1967 as the Compañía Española de Laminación. Competitors of the company include ...

on a 999-year lease, which allows the company to use them for water supply and recreational purposes while also allowing CELSA to continue to take its water supply from the Lisvane Reservoir. It has also submitted plans for the re-development of Llanishen reservoir, and its adjacent Lisvane reservoir, in the north of

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

in November 2020. If accepted, the redevelopment would include the construction of a visitor centre, watersports centre, biodiversity facilities, and education hub.

References

External links

Welsh Water website

Glas Cymru
{{Authority control Water companies of the United Kingdom Companies of Wales Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom 1974 establishments in Wales Water supply and sanitation in Wales Private companies limited by guarantee of the United Kingdom