Severn Trent Water has been heavily criticised by regulator Ofwat for failing to protect customers in Arnold from water shortages in the aftermath that followed the Beast from the East.
The report by Ofwat cites “poor advance planning, inadequate communication with customers and a lack of basic support, such as bottled water” during the spell of bad weather earlier this year.
Ofwat is now requiring four water companies – Thames Water, Severn Trent, Southern Water and South East Water – to submit a detailed, externally audited, action plan setting out how they are addressing the issues identified. The plans must be submitted no later than September 28.
Ofwat chief executive Rachel Fletcher said: “The freeze and rapid thaw earlier this year was forecast and was not unprecedented.
“But too many companies were caught off guard and let people down, causing real hardship as a result. Our report shows there is no excuse for this level of failure.”
A number of residents in Arnold experienced interrupted supplies or water loss during the period of bad weather.
The leader of Gedling Borough Council, Cllr John Clarke, today issued a statement following the publication of Ofwat’s report.
He said: “During the cold weather at the beginning of March, a considerable number of residents living in and around the Arnold area experienced either an interrupted or complete loss of water supply for a significant period, causing them distress and extreme inconvenience.
“I know that plenty of local people found it hard to get hold of Severn Trent Water at the time of the incident and the organisation and provision of bottled water didn’t work as well as it should have done.
“Ofwat’s report published today highlights the improvements that are needed to better manage future incidents and builds on the discussions that have already taken place between the Council, local MP Vernon Coaker and Severn Trent Water during which assurances were sought from Severn Trent Water to improve the flow of information to local residents and businesses and ensure that support to our most vulnerable residents in particular was better co-ordinated.
He added: “I am encouraged to see the commitment from Severn Trent Water in respect of improvements and the Council will continue to work with the company to ensure that the impact of any future incident on our residents and businesses is minimised.
“In addition to this, positive work is underway with Severn Trent Water to recognise the heritage of the Borough with the company contributing £10,000 to fund work around this.”
In a statement issued by Severn Trent Water, they acknowledged significant numbers had experienced disruption.
A Severn Trent spokesperson said: “We’d like to apologise again to our customers who were affected during the extreme weather in March. Customers rightly expect water whenever they need it, and we’ve been working hard since March to make improvements to our incident response processes.
“We accept Ofwat’s findings and are committed to submitting our action plan in September. We’ve already announced a significant programme of investment in our network, including plans for additional monitors in our network to enable us to respond much more quickly and accurately in the future, should this ever happen again.”
