Planning for Water Security

This article examines water security as a concern for England and Wales. Water security is a measure of the resilience of water supplies against identifiable threats which might result in a deficit in the water available to meet essential human needs. The Water Act 2003 made provision for the preparation and publication of water resources management plans as a statutory requirement upon water supply companies, requiring them to set out how water resources will be managed and developed so as to meet statutory water supply obligations. The Guideline sets out the methodology that should be adopted by a water supply company in progressing through specified stages leading to the selection of preferred options. This involves, first, the establishment of a list of 'unconstrained options' comprising a complete and exhaustive list of all technically feasible options that could be used to address the planning problem.