14/06/2012
Dŵr Cymru completes £79m investment in north Wales in 2011-12
Further £101m of works now underway
Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water reports that investment in north Wales during 2011/12 reached £79m – and a further spend of £101m is underway this year to maintain top quality services to customers.
Announcing its financial results for the past year, Welsh Water reported that its spending programme is on track to deliver an ambitious £1billion boost to water services infrastructure throughout its area over the next three years.
Spending in north Wales during 2011/12 on maintenance programmes for the company’s drinking water and wastewater systems totalled £31m, with £2m being spent to increase local network capacity to enable economic development and growth.
The main focus of investment in north Wales over the year was £43m spent on delivering drinking water quality and environmental improvements. A further £3m was spent on reducing the risk of sewage flooding of homes and properties.
Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water managing director Nigel Annett said, “The water we supply to customers’ taps is among the very best in the world for quality, and we are determined that it will remain so. We are investing heavily in projects throughout north Wales, including upgrades at water treatment works that will ensure that we meet the very highest standards for our customers.”
“During 2011/12 our north Wales investment has modernised drinking water treatment processes by installing sophisticated control and monitoring systems. We’ve increased the amount of storage facilities for treated drinking water, to safeguard security of supply for the long-term in areas where there is very strong demand on available resources.
“In addition to drinking water improvements in north Wales, our investment in wastewater treatment is benefiting the environment by helping to improve rivers and coastal bathing water quality – which contributes to the number of Blue Flag beaches that we have in Wales.”
Highlights of investment in 2011/12 included major schemes at water treatment works in Gwynedd, Anglesey and Conwy, together with projects to improve the environment at wastewater treatment works principally in Clwyd and Denbighshire.
A £14 million investment scheme at Alwen water treatment works, Conwy, to upgrade existing equipment to enable treatment of up to 50 million litres of water each day, was completed during the year. Investment is set to continue with the start of a £7 million phase of work to install new equipment to improve the environmental performance of the works.
Dŵr Cymru continues to invest in improving our environment in the Llanberis catchment, the aim being to further reduce our impact on Llyn Padarn in particular. Improvements to reduce the infiltration of surface water into our public sewer network and to further improve the discharges from Llanberis Wastewater Treatment Works are underway, and so far have already cost in excess of £1m.
Further investment of £101m is already underway or planned in north Wales for the present financial year 2012/13. £42m is being spent on maintenance works, with £49m for drinking water quality and environment improvements. Investment of £6m is planned to support economic growth by ensuring network capacity for new developments, with a further £4m allocated to schemes to alleviate the risk of sewage flooding of properties.
Welsh Water is a ‘not-for-profit company’ which has been owned by Glas Cymru since 2001. It does not have shareholders, and any financial surpluses are reinvested in the business for the benefit of customers.
Click here to view a map of the investment
Ends
Enquiries to the Dwr Cymru Welsh Water press office on 029 2055 6140
Notes to editors
Highlights for the year
Financial results
- lowest bill increase of all water and sewerage companies for the second year running. After deducting RPI inflation, Dŵr Cymru’s average household bill is projected by Ofwat to be 6% lower in 2015 than it was in the year before Glas Cymru took over the ownership of Dŵr Cymru;
- sector leading performance on operating cost efficiency, with a further 3% real reduction in operating costs taking the total reduction to 8% since 2001;
- gearing – total net borrowings as a percentage of regulatory asset value – reduced to 65% from 67% in 2011 and 93% in 2001;
- highest credit ratings in the UK utilities sector;
- capital investment of £262 million (up from £242million in 2011);
- profit (before tax and fair value movements) of £7 million retained in the business for the benefit of customers.
Customer service
- high drinking water quality maintained with 99.96% of samples taken at customers’ taps complying with standards;
- 90% customer satisfaction with day to day service as measured by both independent tracking research and by research carried out by Ofwat, the industry regulator;
- 89% business customer satisfaction as measured by independent research carried out with Dŵr Cymru’s largest customers;
- customer complaints cut by more than half to less than 5,000;
- just 116 properties experienced unplanned interruptions to supply lasting more than 6 hours;
- private sewers are now the responsibility of Dŵr Cymru, potentially doubling the size of our sewer network, removing worry and expense for many of our household customers;
- more than 13,000 sewer blockages cleared, keeping the number of flooding incidents to less than 200 properties, the best result for several years;
- some 44,000 household customers benefitting from one of Dŵr Cymru’s sector leading social tariffs and Customer Assistance Fund
Environment
- 43 beaches and five marinas won Blue Flags this year - a third of the total awarded to all of the UK – and 53 Green Coast awards for rural beaches were also won;
- a record number of Welsh beaches recommended in the Good Beach Guide;
- leakage target achieved and is now at record low level – leakage has been halved since the 1990s;
- no water use restrictions across our operating region for 23 years;
- serious pollution incidents cut to just four and the total number of pollution incidents caused by sewer blockages and equipment failures also lower; however, 22 wastewater treatment works (out of more than 800) did not comply with their consents; moreover, insufficient samples were taken at a further four works to demonstrate compliance; a “fast tracked” turnaround plan, backed by an additional investment of £30 million, is progressing well and our performance to date in 2012 is better than in the same period last year
- carbon emissions cut by 12% or 40,000 tonnes with new green renewable energy schemes fully operational at Cardiff and Port Talbot.
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