NI Water has announced a nine week public consultation on its draft Water Resource & Supply Resilience Plan.

The draft Plan outlines how NI Water will manage and develop water resources to make sure there is enough water to meet future supply needs.

The draft Plan takes into account changes in population, housing, water usage and incorporates any predicted changes to our climate. This includes how water supplies would be maintained during critical periods such as severe winters, drought and also includes a drought plan.

NI Water has made significant changes in how the plan was developed from the previous version which was launched in 2020. These include:

• A longer-term planning horizon from 25 to 50 years

• Changing future weather patterns require increased resilience to more frequent and extreme events.  For example, this includes planning for more extreme drought events, typically what would be expected to occur once every 200 years

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• Increased focus on environmental sustainability in support of carbon Net Zero targets

A Strategic Environmental Assessment has also been developed for the draft Plan. This assessment looks at the potential impact of our Plan on the environment.

The company has made significant improvements in water resilience for customers since the last Plan was launched. The draft Plan aims to build on work on other areas, ensuring continued high levels of leakage detection, sustained investment in water mains and water efficiency initiatives.

NI Water devised the draft Plan with input from key stakeholders, including the Department for Infrastructure, the Utility Regulator, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, Northern Ireland Environment Agency and Consumer Council NI.

The draft Plan and its supporting documents can be accessed via NI Water’s website at www.niwater.com/managing-northern-irelands-water-resources/.

As part of the consultation process, we are seeking your views on the new draft Plan and associated documents through the completion of an online survey which can be accessed at consultations2.nidirect.gov.uk/dfi-1/ni-water-consultation/.

The consultation responses will be reviewed by the Department for Infrastructure (DfI), prior to sending them to NI Water for comment.

Following the consultation period, once all the representations have been reviewed and addressed as appropriate, NI Water will publish a summary of the consultation responses and the Final Water Resource and Supply Resilience Plan.