Our Plan to Protect Scotland's World Class Water for Next 25 Years

“The risks of too little and too much rain are increasing, and responding to those to avoid harm to customers and the environment is at the very heart of our Long-Term Strategy”

Alex Plant
CEO, Scottish Water

The future of Scotland’s water has been set out in an ambitious new strategic plan published today. 

Following the driest start to a year since 1964, Scottish Water’s Long-Term Strategy (“Our Sustainable Future Together”) sets out a comprehensive approach which aims to ensure the country’s water and waste water services remain sustainable, resilient and affordable into the future. 

The plan, which has been informed by extensive customer and stakeholder engagement, focuses on the challenges the water industry in Scotland faces over the next 25 years. These include:

• More extreme weather, including heatwaves, droughts, storms, and floods, is becoming more frequent and severe, putting increasing pressure on water and wastewater systems  
• Scotland’s growing and shifting population creates new demands on the network, as people move from west to east, and there is an increase in single-person households
• Replacing infrastructure as it ages to meet modern demands and improve environmental conditions

The seven-week public consultation helped Scottish Water identify and prioritise three long-term outcomes: 

• Scotland’s tap water remains a source of national pride and is valued as a precious resource  
• The quality of our rivers and seas improves, and our communities are protected from sewer flooding through collaboration with others  
• Scottish Water plays a key role in enabling Scotland’s sustainable and economic housing growth

To achieve this, the utility will focus on three key approaches: collaboration and partnerships with organisations, customers and communities; transforming how it works and driving efficiencies; and reducing demand on our services and assets, while helping customers use less water and managing rainwater on the surface. 

Alex Plant, Chief Executive of Scottish Water, emphasised the need for everyone to work together. 

He said: “More extreme weather events – as we’ve seen with the recent record dry spell – are becoming the new normal in Scotland. In addition to such dry weather, we will see more extreme downpours more often, too, so we need to adapt to greater flood risk. 

“The risks of too little and too much rain are increasing, and responding to those to avoid harm to customers and the environment is at the very heart of our Long-Term Strategy.

“Everyone who lives in Scotland is a shareholder in Scottish Water, and we all have a responsibility to protect our most precious resource. 

“So we need to change our relationship with water to ensure it remains a source of national pride for this and future generations.  
 
“This will need both sustained investment in water infrastructure and action from all of us to use water resources more efficiently. 

“As we’ve seen in the past week, with a 60 million litre reduction in demand to help support supplies, when people in Scotland work together, the results are deeply impressive.” 

climate impact

The average daily water use per person in Scotland is among the highest in the UK - 178 litres of water compared to 137 litres combined average in England and Wales.
 
Without adaptation, more extreme weather will mean Scotland faces a daily water deficit of 240 million litres a day by 2050 during extended periods of low rainfall.

The biggest impact will be in the east of the country around Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife, where 1.6 million customers live.
  
The full Our Sustainable Future Together: Long Term Strategy document is available on the Scottish Water website at: www.scottishwater.co.uk/LongTermStrategy