Our Journey to Zero
At Welsh Water, our vision is simple. It’s to earn the trust of our customers every single day and we take seriously our duties as provider of essential public services to over 3 million people across most of Wales and adjoining parts of England.
This unique responsibility gives us a crucial role to play in helping to enhance not only the wellbeing of these customers and their communities but also the environment on which we all depend – both now and for generations to come. Protecting our environment is essential to helping protect our health, homes, water supplies and food production.
Our Commitment
This isn’t simply a target in relation to infrastructure or operational emissions as it’s about changing the way we think, plan and deliver. We’re a socially responsible company with a clear purpose and vision to earn the trust of our customers every day.
This is about taking responsibility for managing the biggest challenge of our time in terms of climate change, focusing on the long-term and ensuring we help protect our customers, communities and the wider environment while leaving a fairer future for generations to come."
Peter Perry
Chief Executive of Welsh Water
Our Manifesto For Rivers in Wales
Many different factors contribute to river water quality – of which wastewater is one element. We have a strong environmental record and have invested heavily to protect water quality in both our rivers and seas. This has delivered real improvements and helped ensure that Wales has over a third of the UKs Blue Flag beaches while only having 15% of the coastline and that 40% of our rivers and waterbodies meet good ecological status compared to 16% in England.
We recognise however that with environmental legislation tightening and customer expectations changing, more needs to be done. We plan to target our investment to those assets which have the biggest impact on the environment, whether that’s storm overflows operating more than we’d like or too much phosphorus leaving our treatment works. We understand we must improve their performance. That is why we have launched our Manifesto for Rivers in Wales which outlines our plans to help improve river quality. This includes:
- Investing £1.5 billion in the decade to 2025 on our wastewater system.
- Investing significantly to improve storm overflows with £25m being invested between 2020-2025 with a further £420m planned from 2025 to 2030.
- Investing an additional £60m specifically to reduce phosphorus in the five failing Special Area of Conservation (SAC) rivers in our operating area.
- Delivering a comprehensive programme of upgrades to our treatment works that will remove 90% of our phosphorus releases by 2030.
- How our business operating model has allowed us to bring forward over £100m additional investment in our wastewater infrastructure accelerating investment that will have a direct benefit in improving rivers in Wales by 2025.
Our Manifesto For Rivers in Wales
PDF, 1.3MB
We have launched our Manifesto for Rivers in Wales which outlines our plans to help improve river quality.
Our Projects and Programmes
Biodiversity Fund
The Biodiversity Fund aims to provide financial support to projects that will benefit and enhance biodiversity at or near our sites.
Rainscape
Leading the way in developing and using new, innovative solutions to manage the amount of surface water entering our sewers
Water framework directive schemes
Our funding scheme provides financial contributions to not-for-profit organisations for projects that will deliver improvements to Welsh rivers, lakes and waterways
Watersource
Looking after the land, rivers and reservoirs to protect your drinking water for years to come.
Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) Rivers
Understanding the sources of phosphorus in our rivers
Citizen Science Support Programme
This programme is currently secured until 31st March 2025 and will enable citizen science groups and organisations to apply for up to £10,000 per project in a 12 month period.
More information
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Our Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans
Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans (DWMPs) are assessments of risk, opportunities and options to manage sewage and rainfall both now and in the future.
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Pestsmart
Smarter ways of managing weeds, pests and plant diseases
Download
Pollution Incident Reduction Plans
This document will describe the Pollution Incident Recovery Plan in more detail, examining each of the types of asset that can be the source of pollution, explaining the root causes, and setting out our actions to tackle them.
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Water resources
Further information, data and downloads around our Water Resource Management and Drought Plans.
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WaterSource
Looking after the land, rivers and reservoirs to protect your drinking water for years to come.
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Conservation and biodiversity
Find out how Welsh Water enhances biodiversity within our own landholdings.
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Environmental Information Regulations 2004
Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water recognises the impact its operations have on the environment and that many of the decisions we make today will continue to impact our customers and the environment for years to come.
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Biosolids for agriculture
A cost effective and sustainable fertiliser, providing a valuable source of nutrients and organic matter for agricultural land.
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Improving flood prevention
Find out about our partnership with Flood Alleviation Programme, the criteria you need to meet and what you need to do in order to apply for funding.
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Storm overflow map
This map provides near real-time information about Dŵr Cymru’s storm overflow activity, as indicated by our event duration monitors.
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Wetlands
In Welsh Water, we already use natural processes to help treat our waste water at many of our sites.
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The Sustainable Management of Natural Resources
The Sustainable Management of Natural Resources, or SMNR, is a long-term goal for all of Wales, including industries, local government, and communities.
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Our position on Microplastics
The risks posed by microplastics are small, but we continue working with stakeholders to assess impacts and take measures to reduce their presence.
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Independent environmental advisory panel
Take a look at how the Independent Environmental Advisory Panel support Dŵr Cymru.
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Combined storm overflows
Find out how combined storm overflows work and how they are monitored.
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Event Duration Monitoring
Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) is a regulatory requirement to monitor the frequency and duration of releases from storm overflows, also known as CSOs (Combined Storm Overflows).