We are proud to provide a sustainable, affordable, clean and safe water supply and to manage and treat the waste water returned to us in a way that protects the environment.
Our business is founded on water and environmental engineering and a great deal of what we do influences the environment. We recognise the impact we have on the environment and also on economic and social factors. In everything we do, we will seek to protect and improve the environment for the benefit of all.
Building our future identifies care for the environment as one of our five strategic themes. This Environment Policy describes our commitment to continuous environmental protection and improvement.
We strive for improvements in our environmental performance, for the conservation of resources and for best practice. We recognise that everyone within the company has a responsibility for environmental issues and that the Managing Director is accountable to the Board for these issues. The implementation and monitoring of the Environment Policy includes the setting and regular review of environmental objectives and targets. The Corporate Responsibility Management Group gives advice on the development of the policy with further guidance provided internally through the Corporate Responsibility Committee of the Board and externally through ongoing stakeholder engagement.
We are committed to achieving and demonstrating compliance with all relevant environmental laws, regulations and standards. We keep abreast of developments in environmental legislation and disseminate them throughout the business incorporating them into business plans where appropriate.
We are committed to minimising the impact of our operations, preventing pollution and promoting positive environmental outcomes. This is demonstrated through research into innovative solutions, including asset design, construction, operation and disposal, linked with an ongoing commitment to improve environmental performance across all our activities as a water supply and sewerage undertaker. We focus specifically on:
• Carbon Management
We are committed to the reduction of our emissions to the air from our use of energy and fuel, from our operational processes and our use of transport. This is demonstrated by using energy and fuels more efficiently and through using sustainable energy sources where feasible. We are dedicated to increasing the efficiency of supplying water and removing wastewater with the aim of reducing CO2 emissions while maintaining customer satisfaction.
• Climate change
We will assess and respond to the impact of climate change. Climate change is likely to mean higher temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, rising sea levels, and more frequent and extreme weather events. These will all impact on what we do. The likely result is higher peak demands for water, tighter availability of water resources, and increased risk of flooding. We will develop our understanding of these impacts and address them to deliver solutions that both minimise their worst effects and are environmentally sustainable.
• Water management
We monitor the potential environmental impact caused by the abstraction, treatment and distribution of water. When abstracting water from the environment, we seek to avoid any adverse impact and to protect the water environment and related habitats. We recognise the need to balance recreational use of our assets with other interests and are committed to doing this. We will promote water efficiency to all our stakeholders ensuring that opportunities for communication and engagement are appropriately utilised.
• Waste water management
We protect or improve the water environment through the collection and treatment of sewage and other effluents. When releasing treated water back into the environment, it is policy, and practice, to undertake monitoring to ensure that we operate within our consents and fulfil our remit to protect the water environment.
• Resource use
We aim to use resources in a sustainable manner and procure materials, goods and commodities on the basis of their environmental, social and economic impact. Our aim is to minimise the amount of raw materials consumed by our activities. Tenders will be screened to ensure environmental considerations are taken into account in the procurement process. We work in partnership with our suppliers and contractors to minimise raw material use and to improve overall environmental performance.
• Waste and recycling
We are reducing the amount of waste generated by our activities, seeking to recover as much usable material as economically practicable and to dispose of the residual waste in a responsible manner. We recognise that our key wastes include spoil, sludges and office waste. In addition, we are committed to reducing the risk of contamination from spills on our sites and have procedures in place to ensure that any that do occur are dealt with safely, swiftly and effectively.
• Biodiversity and conservation
We conserve and enhance the natural and built environment that NWL owns and on which it may have an impact. We recognise the importance of encouraging biodiversity, managing our landholdings responsibly and of designated conservation sites. We actively manage our Sites of Special Scientific Interest towards meeting national favourable condition status targets. We implement and report our conservation activities through partnerships with local conservation groups, through local communities and through our websites. Capital investment projects are screened to assess their impact on the environment and to identify opportunities for enhancement. Operational activities are undertaken with respect for the conservation of biodiversity.
• Conservation of heritage
We are committed to conserving the historic environment, both on our own landholdings that have archaeological and heritage interest or where our activities affect such sites. We have a duty to take into account the historical importance of a site at an early stage in the planning of our operations and we have processes in place to enable this to occur. We formally consider potential issues at the earliest stage possible in project planning and take necessary mitigation steps to ensure regulatory compliance. Capital investment projects are screened to assess their impact on archaeology, including listed buildings, scheduled monuments and sites contained within Local Authority Sites and Monuments Registers.
• Local communities
We act as a good neighbour, minimising noise, odour or other nuisance that may result from our operational activities. In addition, we will engage with the local community when planning, constructing or operating assets and will encourage the sensitive development of sites to minimise their impact. By working in partnership with the local community, other companies and other organisations we can incorporate best practice into our environment and efficiency programmes, which in turn allows us to support these organisations to achieve best practice themselves.
We publicly report information on our environmental and corporate responsibility activities on a frequent basis via:
• The Director’s Report and Business Review section of our Annual Report and Accounts; this includes a review of environmental performance and describes our plans for the future.
• The environment section of our website.
• The Corporate Responsibility Model on our website where interested stakeholders can see our policies, action plans, key performance indicators, trend data and case studies. These are presented on the environmental themes of energy, water management, transport, waste water management, climate change and biodiversity and conservation as well as many more.
• Our Strategic Direction Statement, ‘Looking to the Future’, which was published on our website in 2007 and sets out our plans, intermediate goals and long term aspirations for the next 25 years.
• Part A of our five year Final Business Plan (2010-2015) which is on our website.
• Publications, exhibitions, displays and interpretation panels in conjunction with our many environmental partners.
We strive to be an active partner in promoting environmental awareness and biodiversity enhancing awareness of environmental issues amongst our customers, employees, contractors and others who have an interest in our business. We ensure that these groups are well informed, well trained, engaged in and committed to achieving our policy, objectives and targets. We use internal communications and training programmes to inform and motivate our employees to enable them to play a full role in implementing this policy. We encourage interested parties to comment on our environmental record.
September 2009