Climate change
Climate change policy
Northumbrian Water, which operates in the north of England and also the drier south east, is focusing on three areas to evaluate the impact of climate change: the water that is available to us, the security of our supplies and our response to storm events. In order to demonstrate our commitment we are contributing to the reduction of the overall impacts of climate change by addressing our use of energy, implementing energy efficiency in the short term and renewables in the long term.
We have a responsibility to ensure adequate future supplies of drinking water regardless of the potential changes to the natural environment that climate change may create. We work to ensure that our customers can rely on a safe and available water supply and to minimise the impacts of extreme storm rainfall on properties and the environment.
We are committed to contributing to the reduction of the overall impacts of climate change by assessing our transportation requirements, reducing our energy use and cutting down our carbon emissions.
For some 'climate change highlights' please click here.
Climate change action plan
• Adapt the demand planning process to the potential impacts of climate change.
• Implement a programme of employee communication about the impact of climate change and how we can reduce our contribution both in the workplace and the home.
• Maintain a proactive approach to adapting to climate change integrating the known impact of climate change into ‘business as usual’ risk-assessment tools.
• As scientific evidence builds up and governments’ policies develop update our communications on the understanding of climate change, its causes and impacts.
• Communicate effectively with our stakeholders on our climate change policy and actions.
• Maintain our intelligence of current and future developments in climate science, policy, legislation and financial frameworks.
• Invest in resources and technology to be a leading force in the implementation of climate change strategies across the water industry.
• Engage with local partners to address the causes and consequences of climate change, including the economic implications.
• Influence behaviour by increasing awareness and understanding of the links between carbon emissions and climate change.
• Gather information and work with the rest of the water industry to further quantify the carbon footprint of our activities.
• Reduce our carbon footprint through the implementation of the actions identified in our energy management plans, for example using renewable energy and promoting energy efficiency.
• Identify efficient adaptation actions in carrying out an impact assessment of climate change on our activities and costs.
• Manage water resources carefully by working to long-term plans to ensure that the future requirements of our customers are met.
• Work with all stakeholders to establish long-term and integrated solutions to the management of sewerage networks.
• Assess the risk of river and coastal flooding of our assets in our operating areas to ensure they are taken into account in long-term investment plans.
• Supply selected schools within our operating area with weather stations, through the Northumbrian Water Globe project, to enable us to gather weather data information as part of our climate change programme and also enhance the curriculum of the schools involved.
Climate change KPIs
• Participate in the 'Making Space for Water' initiative, sponsored by DEFRA, which engages stakeholders in the development of sustainable solutions to the general management of the water environment.
• Ensure that climate change risk assessments are built into the day to day planning processes.
• Develop local action plans with regional stakeholders to mitigate the impacts and adapt to climate change.
• Monitor and reduce GHG emissions.
• Publish on our website a carbon calculator for customers to use to assess how much carbon is used to treat the water they use.
• Complete arrangements to distribute, and train the users of, 50% of weather stations available through, the Northumbrian Water Globe project, by the end of March 2008.
Climate change case study
Northumbrian Water Globe Project
The GLOBE Programme encourages pupils to measure aspects of their local environment and report their results over the Internet. Data from schools around the world is then available for pupils to use in a wide range of projects and activities.
The Northumbrian Water Globe Project is a collaboration between Northumbrian Water and the GLOBE Programme. We are putting a network of weather stations into schools in areas where weather data is sparce to provide useful information on storm events, as schools are generally situated in the correct locations to give wide regional coverage.
The schools benefit from an international project that cuts across curriculum areas such as geography, science, maths, ICT and PSHE and citizenship. There are links to all the key stages right up to university level. They will be monitoring temperature (max, min, current temperature), precipitation (rain and snowfall), clouds (type and amount) air pressure etc. The information automatically uploads to the GLOBE database and schools can look at their own information as well as that of the other participating schools.
NW will have access to the weather data collected which will be used in prediction of storm events etc. the weather information will also be available via our website.