WaterSource
Looking after the land, rivers and reservoirs to protect your drinking water for years to come.
Our catchments are all different, which means we have to find lots of ways to make sure the source water quality is as good as it can be before we turn it into drinking water. To help us understand the best things to do, we have grouped our catchments into 3 management approaches:
What do WaterSource do?
In some of our catchments certain substances, like nutrients, pesticides or sediment, are at levels which result in the need for Welsh Water to use additional treatment to turn it into high quality drinking water. To help us reduce or remove these substances from the water environment, we need to work in partnership with land managers and users to manage the catchments in new ways.
We have worked with our environmental regulators, the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales, to identify Safeguard Zones (SgZ), which are non-statutory designations that recognise the need to improve water quality in our catchments. Through our SgZ programme of activities we are carrying out bespoke actions with our partners to reduce or remove these substances from our sources which means we need to use less chemicals and energy at our water treatment works.
Our catchments that are within the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park area provide almost half of the drinking water we provide to our customers every day. Because this area is so important strategically, we want to collaborate with communities and organisations who live and work in the area to develop innovative, proactive ways to enhance these water sources for the long term.
We recognise that by sharing ideas, knowledge and enthusiasm, we will deliver so much more for the environment, society, culture and economy of the BBNPA area so we have developed our Bannau Brycheiniog Mega Catchment (BBMC) programme. Our aim is to find ways of working together that will protect the water environment as well as benefit nature, businesses and our wellbeing for future generations.
We need to make sure that our water sources provide consistent and reliable water quality now and for years to come, so we are looking at ways to make sure our water treatment works will not be impacted by future challenges.
In many of our catchments the water quality could change at any time, so we need to be able to implement adaptive planning and management approaches to take into account future environment, climate and land policy changes. We work in partnership with researchers and academics to find new technologies that enable us to model and forecast what the water environment will look in the future.
Who do we work with?
These are some of the partners we have worked with so far to come up with the brilliant ideas that are helping us to safeguard our catchments.
Why do we do Catchment Management?
Water goes on a big journey before it gets to your tap. From clouds in the sky, each drop runs across the land and finds its way to our streams, rivers and reservoirs.
Along the way, water picks up things that affect its purity which mean that the water flowing into our sources isn’t as pure as it could be. So, we have to use an increasing amount of chemicals and energy to get it perfect for our customers to drink. This costs a lot of extra money and can damage our environment.
That’s why we’re working with land managers, community groups and customers to change the way we look after the land to protect our water catchments. We call it WaterSource.
We are committed to looking after our water catchments now and for years to come, the first ambition in our 2050 Strategy is to safeguard clean drinking water through catchment management.
To do this we have looked around the world for the best ideas, and are working with our partners to try some new innovations of our own that will help improve the quality of water before it reaches our sources.
Doing this will mean we can use fewer chemicals and energy to treat drinking water. This is good news for our customers and our beautiful environment.
Drinking Water Safety Plans
Drinking Water Safety Plans (DWSP) are technical assessments for identifying and managing risk to drinking water quality from our water source all the way through to our customers taps.
They are a regulatory requirement of all water companies in England and Wales to ensure safe clean drinking water now and in the future.
Our DWSP methodology follows the World Health Organisation best practice guidance and adopts a multi-disciplinary approach of engaging a range of stakeholders and gathering information throughout the water supply chain. The outputs from DWSPs are used to prioritise and inform our capital investment programmes ensuring we are investing our customer`s money in cost-effective solutions and initiatives.
Our proactive approach means we can identify and mitigate both current and potential future risks, helping us to implement effective controls which will safeguard water quality and the environment today and for future generations.
Where are
our catchments?
This map shows where our drinking water catchments are in Wales and parts of England.
We take water from over 100 different sources, these are a mixture of groundwaters, rivers and reservoirs. Our catchments cover about 11,000km2.
Where does the water go?
The water from these sources is treated at one of our 61 treatment works and travels along 27,500 km of mains pipework to reach your homes and businesses. We provide more than 830 megalitres of drinking water to our 3 million customers each day.
WaterSource Conferences
Find out more about our WaterSource Conferences with information including the Conference agenda, images from the day and downloadable material.
Find out moreWhat our partners say
Have a project idea or need more information?
We’d like to hear from any farmer, land owner or manager with an idea for new and innovative ways of working which will benefit the water environment in our catchments. We also have a wealth of information and advice that we can share with you.
Our Drinking Water Catchment team are regularly out and about during the summer months attending agricultural shows and events. You will be able to talk to use at these events in 2024, just look for the WaterSource banner!
1. Ways you can contact us
So if you have an idea or would like to talk to us, please get in touch at: WaterSource@dwrcymru.com.