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Thames Water’s Draft
Water Resource Management Plan dWRMP24
THE BOTTOM LINE
Thames Water’s dWRMP24, intended as their detailed plan for 2025-30 and their outline plan to 2075, still has, as the centrepiece, a massive reservoir proposal for the Abingdon area. The reservoir would be situated between Steventon, Drayton, Marcham and East Hanney. The construction would be started in 2026, with completion at the end of 2037. It would then take until the end of 2039 to fill the Reservoir.
There are various versions of the Reservoir, up to a maximum size of 150 Billion litres (150 Million cubic metres) of water. The version chosen as ‘best value’ for the Water Resources South East (WRSE) plan (see below) is the 100 Million cubic metre vesion.
BACKGROUND: Thames Water has been fixated on the building of this mega-Reservoir since the 1990s. Following the public inquiry held in 2010 into Thames Water’s 2009 Water Reosurces Management Plan, the inspector found that the TW’s proposals for a huge reservoir south-west of Abingdon were:
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not fit for purpose;
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not compliant (they had over estimated demand); and that
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some important alternatives to the proposed Abingdon reservoir (Upper Thames Reservoir UTR) south west of Abingdon had not been properly investigated, particularly the options involving water transfers from R Severn to R Thames to supply London’s reservoirs.
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As a result the inspector ruled out TW’s proposed 100 million cubic meter reservoir.
Nevertheless, Thames returned in 2019 with their dWRMP19, once again proposing the Reservoir (this time at 150 Million cubic metre size). Reservoirs of this size, built as they are above ground completely dominate the surroundings, as shown in GARD’s aerial photo montage below.
 The 2019 plan was vigorously opposed locally, and was not approved by the Government. Now, as described below, Thames are back, in partnership with Affinity Water and Southern Water, proposing the mega-Reservoir as part of the WRSE Regional Plan.
Water Resources South East (WRSE)
draft Regional Plan 2025-75
BACKGROUND
WRSE is the grouping of 7 water South-East Water Companies – major partners in this are Thames Water and Affinity Water. WRSE Launched their draft Plan for the South-east water supplies for the period 2025 – 2100. It is now open to public consultation. You can find how to respond at WRSE https://wrse.uk.engagementhq.com/ and you can see the draft Plan at
https://www.wrse.org.uk/media/va1bz21z/10306a_wrse-bv-plan-2022final_online.pdf
THE BOTTOM LINE FOR THE OXFORDSHIRE AREA
The Abingdon Reservoir is chosen in the only scenario to 2040 that WRSE have considered. They have put forward a poorly-justified and in many ways illogical, plan. If the plan were approved, a start would be made in 2025, and the reservoir would be filled from 2037 to 2039 and be ready for 1/1/2040. This shows how long the delivery of a reservoir the size of Abingdon would be.
Once built, most (70%) of the water would be intended to supply out of the Thames Valley by a £1 Billion pipeline, Southern Water in the Hampshire area! Almost none of this water is intended for the water-stressed Thames Valley!
GARD’s VIEW
The draft Plan is poorly-justified and picks a poor option to solve the water problems.Basically, GARD’s expert studies show that:
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WRSE have overestimated the water shortage by 2040 and, even more so, by 2060.
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They have done this by taking an extremely high population and housing growth scenario, which is disproved by latest Government official statistics.
In addition, whilst they plan to take less water from vulnerable environments like Chalk Streams (something GARD has always supported), they over-estimate the shortfall in water resources that these measures will bring.
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The combined effect of this is that their plan gives them a very large water-surplus in 2040, equal to more than 2 Abingdon reservoirs!
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WRSE’s plan starts the Reservoir as soon as possible, yet arbitrarily delays the start on the projects to transfer water from the Severn to the Thames (STT) and until after 2040.
This is in spite of the fact that the Severn-Thames Transfer (STT) could, if started in 2025, be available 6 years earlier than the Reservoir, to give earlier resilience against drought and earlier relief for the Chalk Streams. This is why GARD has long advocated the STT, and the reasons for preferring it are the same now as they have been since the 2010 Public Inquiry rejected the Reservoir.
Just as bad, WRSE arbitrarily delay the full implementation of a second Water Transfer scheme, the Grand Union Canal to Affinity Water in Hertfordshire, until 2040. Full implementation of this scheme would save all the Chiltern Chalk Streams from harmful abstraction without having to wait for the Reservoir.
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In addition, WRSE, whilst tackling leakage, propose to do the minimum required by the Government. They must do more to tackle leaks.
Their plan will still leave Thames Water with the worst leakage rate in 2050. Bringing Thames Water’s leak rate down to the average of other companies in 2045 would provide the extra water on its own to save the Chiltern Chalk Streams!
IN SUMMARY: The reservoir is a solution looking for a problem. In this plan, it is no longer to provide water for Oxfordshire and Swindon (as in 2010), nor mainly for London (as in 2019). Now the plan is to send most of the water out of the water-stressed Thames region, to sell it by pipeline to Portsmouth, for simple profit. The planned reservoir is unnecessary (the population figures and reduced water abstraction figures are grossly exaggerated), ecologically disastrous (biodiversity cannot be restored and a huge amount of carbon is released in construction) and dangerous (pollution, general flood risk and risk of catastrophic inundation).
THE NEXT STEPS
The reservoir is an immediate threat to the local area and environment, and an immediate threat as a white elephant for which all Thames Water's customers will pay for via their bills for decades to come, GARD believes it is extremely important to maintain opposition to the reservoir in these consultations and throughout the period up to Autumn 2023. We have demonstrated that Thames Water's plans can be defeated by a combination of refuting their dubious technical arguments in favour of the reservoir, by pointing out the better alternatives, and by strong public pressure on decision makers and the media. We will maintain this, and ask you to help us in this fight.
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