Wessex Water
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Wessex Water Services Limited, known as Wessex Water, is a
water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...
and
sewerage Sewerage (or sewage system) is the infrastructure that conveys sewage or surface runoff (stormwater, meltwater, rainwater) using sewers. It encompasses components such as receiving drainage, drains, manholes, pumping stations, storm overflows, a ...
utility company serving an area of
South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and ...
, covering 10,000 square kilometres including
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, most of
Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
, Somerset and
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
and 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
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
. Wessex Water supplies 1.3 million people with around 285 million litres of water a day. It is regulated under the
Water Industry Act 1991 The Water Industry Act 1991 (c. 56) is an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament consolidating previous enactments relating to the water supply and the provision of wastewater services in England and Wales. It further implemented recommendations of ...
. In 2016, the company had about 2,100 employees. Wessex Water is owned by the Malaysian power company
YTL Corporation YTL Corporation Berhad (, ) is a Malaysian infrastructure conglomerate, founded in 1955 by Yeoh Tiong Lay, after whom the group is named. YTL Corporation Berhad is an integrated infrastructure developer with extensive operations in countries i ...
. Its headquarters are on the outskirts of Bath in
Claverton Down Claverton Down is a suburb on the south-east hilltop edge of Bath, Somerset, England. It is linked to the Bathwick area of the city by Bathwick Hill. Primarily a rural area with relatively few houses, it is home to the University of Bath, the he ...
, in a modern energy-efficient building by
Bennetts Associates Bennetts is a specialist insurance broker for motorcycles headquartered in Peterborough, with a contact centre in Coventry, England, owned by Saga plc. On 17 February 2020 it was announced that The Ardonagh Group had agreed to purchase Benne ...
and
Buro Happold Buro Happold (previously ''BuroHappold Engineering'') is a British professional services firm that provides engineering consultancy, design, planning, project management, and consulting services for buildings, infrastructure, and the environment ...
.


History

The company originated as the Wessex Water Authority, one of ten regional water authorities established by the
Water Act 1973 The Water Act 1973 (1973 c.37) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reorganised the water, sewage and river management industry in England and Wales. Water supply and sewage disposal were removed from local authority control, ...
which were
privatised Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
in 1989. Wessex Water Services Limited was purchased by American company
Enron Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. ...
in 1998 for $2.4 billion and placed in a newly formed subsidiary,
Azurix Azurix Corp. is a water services company, headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company owned and operated facilities in North America (mainly Canada), Europe, and South America. In 2007, Azurix was awarded a $165 million claim against the govern ...
. Following Enron's collapse, Wessex Water was sold to YTL Power International of
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...
, in 2002. The water authority had acquired the assets and duties of a number of public sector and local authority water utilities: *Bristol Avon River Authority *Somerset River Authority *Avon and Dorset River Authority (except the part of the area of that drains to the River Lim) *Bath Corporation *Dorset Water Board *North Wilts Water Board *South Wilts Water Board *Wessex Water Board *West Somerset Water Board *West Wilts Water Board *Bournemouth and District Water Company *Bristol Waterworks Company *Cholderton and District Water Company *West Hampshire Water Company *West Lulworth Water Undertaking Four people, three of them Wessex Water employees, were killed in an explosion at a company site in Avonmouth on 3 December 2020.


Customer service

Wessex Water achieved a score of 4.53 in Ofwat’s ‘Satisfaction by company’ survey 2012/13 (5 being ‘very satisfied’).


Drinking water quality

In 2013 Wessex Water's compliance with drinking water standards exceeded 99.9% and the company maintained 100% compliance with
sewage treatment Sewage treatment (or domestic wastewater treatment, municipal wastewater treatment) is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable for discharge to the surrounding envir ...
discharge consents.


Leakage

In both 2011/12 and 2012/13 the company's leakage figure was 69 million litres per day, compared to a yearly average of 73 million litres per day between 2005–10.


Carbon footprint

Wessex Water's greenhouse gas emissions totalled 119 kilotonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2018/19, compared to 149 kilotonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2011/12 and 159 kilotonnes in 2012/13.


Reservoirs and lakes

The company owns and manages several reservoirs including
Blashford Lakes Blashford Lakes is a nature reserve north of Ringwood in Hampshire, England, which is managed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. The site is part of the River Avon System Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, Avon Valley Ra ...
in Hampshire,
Clatworthy Reservoir Clatworthy Reservoir is situated near Clatworthy in the Brendon Hills on the edge of the Exmoor National Park in west Somerset, England. It is run by Wessex Water and has a capacity of , supplying some 200,000 homes. It impounds the head waters ...
,
Durleigh Reservoir Durleigh reservoir at Durleigh in Somerset, England covers and was formed in 1938 when Durleigh brook, a tributary of the River Parrett, was dammed. The reservoir's original purpose was to provide water for the newly built British Cellophane F ...
, Hawkridge Reservoir,
Otterhead Lakes Otterhead Lakes are a pair of reservoirs in the Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty south of Otterford in Somerset, England. They are fed by the River Otter and managed by the Otterhead Estate Trust Company Limited, working with t ...
, Sutton Bingham Reservoir and
Tucking Mill Tucking Mill is a small hamlet (place), hamlet within the parish of Monkton Combe, Somerset, England. It lies on Midford Brook and was a key point on the now disused Somerset Coal Canal. It is at the southern end of the Two Tunnels Greenway whi ...
in Somerset, many of which, in addition to supplying drinking water, are used for recreation and as nature reserves.


GENeco

Wessex Water's GENeco subsidiary, established in 2009, operates sewage treatment works. It recycles waste, produces renewable energy and provides the agricultural industry with fertiliser. In summer 2010, GENeco launched the Bio-Bug, a modified VW Beetle that runs on bio-gas generated from waste treated at sewage treatment works. Waste flushed down the toilets of just 70 homes in Bristol is enough to power the Bio-Bug for a year, based on an annual mileage of 10,000 miles. In November 2014, the UK's first bus powered entirely by human and
food waste Food loss and waste is food that is not eaten. The causes of food waste or loss are numerous and occur throughout the food system, during production, processing, distribution, retail and food service sales, and consumption. Overall, about o ...
went into service between
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
and Bath, run by tour operator
Bath Bus Company The Bath Bus Company is a bus operator in the United Kingdom which runs open top tours in Bath, Bristol and Cardiff, and the 'Bristol Air Decker' service between Bath and Bristol Airport. The company has been a subsidiary of the French RATP ...
. Since 2019,
biomethane Renewable natural gas (RNG), also known as sustainable natural gas (SNG) or biomethane, is a biogas which has been upgraded to a quality similar to fossil natural gas and having a methane concentration of 90% or greater. By increasing the concentr ...
powers buses on one of Bristol's MetroBus routes. The gas is produced at the company's "bioresources and renewable energy park" in
Avonmouth Avonmouth is a port and outer suburb of Bristol, England, facing two rivers: the reinforced north bank of the final stage of the Avon which rises at sources in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset; and the eastern shore of the Severn Estuar ...
, which is run by GENeco.


Environmental record

*May 1998 – Found guilty of discharging over 1 million gallons of raw sewage into a
Weymouth, Dorset Weymouth is a seaside town in Dorset, on the English Channel coast of England. Situated on a sheltered bay at the mouth of the River Wey, south of the county town of Dorchester, Weymouth had a population of 53,427 in 2021. It is the third l ...
, marina on August Bank Holiday Monday 1997, the busiest day of the year. The company was fined £5,000 with £500 costs. *March 1999 – Ranked 4th in the top ten list of "worst polluters" in England by the
Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...
. *May 2002 – Fined £8,000 for causing pollution in Dowlais Brook,
Cwmbran Cwmbran ( ; cy, Cwmbrân , also in use as an alternative spelling in English) is a town in the county borough of Torfaen in South Wales. Lying within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, Cwmbran was designated as a New Town in 1949 to pro ...
in June 2001. *April 2003 – Fined £5,000 with £1,000 costs at Minehead Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to causing poisonous, noxious or polluting matter to enter the
Washford River The Washford River rises at near Luxborough in the Brendon Hills and flows through Somerset to the Bristol Channel at Watchet. The river valley passes through the Cleeve Hill Site of Special Scientific Interest, and close to Cleeve Abbey ...
in Somerset. *July 2003 – Described by the Environment Agency as one of the worst "repeat offenders" for pollution incidents. *2004 – Fined six times for environmental pollution incidents. *May 2007 – Fined £1,500 with £1,589 costs by
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
magistrates after pleading guilty to one offence under the
Water Resources Act 1991 The Water Resources Act 1991 (WRA) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that regulates water resources, water quality and pollution, and flood defence. Part II of the Act provides the general structure for the management of water re ...
of causing sewage to enter controlled waters. Untreated sewage had been allowed to pollute the River Frome in July 2006. The river was polluted again with untreated sewage at
Frampton Cotterell Frampton Cotterell is a large village and parish, in South Gloucestershire, South West England, on the River Frome. The village is contiguous with Winterbourne to the south-west and Coalpit Heath to the east. The parish borders Iron Acton to t ...
in February 2007 and April 2007. *April 2008 – Fined £3,000 with £1,960 costs for allowing sewage to pollute the River Stour. *March 2010 – Fined £6,000 with £2,235 costs at Weymouth Magistrates' Court after allowing sewage to pollute the River Stour near
Shaftesbury Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hilltop settlement in Dorset, being built about above sea level on a ...
in March 2009.


References


External links

* {{Authority control 1973 establishments in England Companies based in Bath, Somerset Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom Water companies of England Water pollution in the United Kingdom Wessex 2002 mergers and acquisitions