Who we have worked with

In developing our DWMP, we have worked with

• The Southern Regional Flood and Coastal Committee
• The Flood Risk Management Authorities such as the Environment Agency, Internal Drainage Boards and Lead Local Flood Authorities (County and Unitary Authorities)
• The Local Council Planning Authorities that have to meet government housing targets
• Neighbouring water companies and those providing water supply services within our wastewater area
• Organisations that are charged with protecting and enhancing the environment such as Natural England, the National Park Authorities, Catchment Partnerships, and River and Wildlife Trusts.

We have involved over 180 individuals from 75 organisations through

• six regionally based webinars at various stages of the DWMP development and included a webinar in which the Environment Agency explained the government’s partnership funding scheme
• three sets of 11 workshops – one in each of our River Basin Catchments
• hosting 41 meetings to identify the investment needs for 61 wastewater systems
• seven meetings with external experts to jointly develop the BRAVA (Baseline Risk and Vulnerability Assessment) methodologies
• a preliminary consultation running between September and October 2021
• a public consultation from June to September 2022. The dates for and purpose of the webinars, meetings and consultations can be found here.

The regionally based webinars presented and discussed issues and information which were relevant to the whole region.

Webinar 1

August and September 2020, set out the background to the DWMP programme, what it is and why we are doing it and what we must achieve through the programme. View the presentation used in the webinar.

Webinar 2

Winter 2020–2021, updated partner organisations on our findings from the second stage of the DWMP, the Baseline Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (BRAVA), for the six national planning objectives. View the presentation used in the webinar.

Webinar 3

March 2021, updated partner organisations on the results of the BRAVA for the additional Planning Objectives, as proposed by our stakeholders at the September 2020 DWMP workshops. View the presentation used in the webinar.

Webinar 4

December 2021, discussed water industry funding to generate a wider understanding of our funding, where it comes from and what it needs to be used for in advance of developing our draft DWMP investment programme so this could be set in context. View the presentation and responses to questions raised during the webinars.

Webinar 5

January 2022, enabled the Environment Agency to explain their partnership funding programmes for flood and coastal risk management. View the slide set used at webinar.

All presentations used during the River Basin Catchment workshops are specific to that River Basin and are available on the ‘Working with others’ page for that River Basin.     

How working with external partners has influenced our DWMP

Working with external partner organisations means we have been able to develop our DWMP with a broader range of views, knowledge and expertise about the risks relating to the quantity and quality of water, and the environment which depends on water.  We have identified and developed a set of additional planning objectives that enable us to focus on environmental outcomes, for example bathing water quality and shellfish quality, as well as nutrient neutrality. The additional planning objectives are:

• achieving WFD (Water Framework Directive) Good Ecological Status (or Good Ecological Potential for Heavily modified waterbodies)
• securing nutrient neutrality
• preventing groundwater pollution to protect drinking water sources
• improving surface water management
• improving and protecting designated bathing water quality
• improving and protecting shellfish water quality.

We believe our DWMP is a much better plan for this collaboration, and the environment and communities we serve will benefit as a result. Collaboration has also helped identify opportunities for future partnership schemes to provide multiple benefits for our customers and communities as well as ways to improve and enhance our environment across our region.

The Register of Stakeholder Comments – for information only – not for consultation

We have kept a register of the comments, concerns and suggestions made by external partners throughout the process of developing the DWMP, along with our responses to these. The “Register of Stakeholder Comments” is provided for your information. It does not form part of our DWMP consultation. We have taken stakeholder comments and information into account wherever possible as we have developed the DWMP and used the information to identify further development for cycle 2.

The register currently captures all comments provided up-to and including the Options Development and Appraisal meetings in October 2021. We chose these meetings as a cut-off point in order to publish the Register to accompany the consultation. All representations received after this time as part of the Initial Consultation in September and October 2021, have been published in the Report on our ‘Have your say’ page of the website.

The Register of Stakeholder Comments is available to view.

The Register is presented in date and workshop order. The first pages contain the issues raised that are relevant to the whole of our region, no matter which River Basin Catchment the issue was raised in. The following pages cover each River Basin Catchment in alphabetical order.

We intend to continue with the Register as part of the development of the DWMP. It will become an online resource where partners and customers can feed in their views and concerns and find out how we have responded to these. We will use it to inform and shape our DWMP development.  

We hope our DWMP has highlighted that planning for the longer-term unlocks opportunities for a more sustainable approach where we work with other partner organisations to tackle many of the current risks and issues at source. For example, capturing rainwater and re-using it before it gets into the sewer network will prevent the rainwater from having to be transported to our treatment works, treated with chemicals, cleaned and discharged back to the environment, often miles away from where the water is needed.

Working with others is increasingly important to help communities adapt to climate change and its impacts, and protect the water that we have.  Our DWMP has shown that we cannot deliver high-quality, sustainable and affordable drainage and wastewater management by working alone.

We will continue to collaborate with partner organisations to share data and information and understand the wider issues and risks associated with drainage, water quality and the environment. Wherever possible, we will co-create and co-deliver solutions by working together.

Giving our customers a say

We have published our work on our DWMP on our website during the development of our Plan to share information with our customers. The management of wastewater systems and understanding the associated risks is highly complex and insight gained from customer focus groups has told us that our customers:

• welcome the consideration of major factors like urban creep, customer behaviours and climate change when planning for wastewater management
• find it reassuring that multiple organisations are talking to each other about the DWMP to ensure there is a cohesive strategy to manage wastewater and limit environmental damage
• think a 25-year view reviewed every 5 years feels forward looking, comprehensive and with the capacity to evolve over time
• are pleased to have a wider picture of the issues for the whole of the SE of England
• are reassured to know about the DWMP, but the granular detail is too much information for them to engage with
• feel that it doesn’t always feel particularly customer facing and is jargon heavy, word heavy and lacking explanation for example, on the BRAVA results
• think it is sufficient to know that there is a DWMP and to leave the detail to Southern Water and relevant agencies.

We are consulting customers on our DWMP during the public consultation in the summer of 2022, and then will engage customers in plans that directly affect them and their local area as we progress with the implementation of our DWMP.