Southern Water has today launched a three month consultation on its proposed resources management plan.

The plan covers areas including investigating water re-use and further tackling leakage and promoting water efficiency

It sets out how the company proposes to ensure there is enough water for its two million household and business customers.

The options also include schemes to work in partnership with farmers, landowners and rivers trust to help protect rivers and groundwater from pesticides in the future.

Water strategy manager Meyrick Gough said: “During the past 12 months we have experienced both drought and floods and the Met Office is warning there may be more extremes of weather in the future.

“As our current water sources rely on rain during the winter to provide supplies for the rest of the year, it’s vital we start planning now to meet these extremes and the challenges ahead.

“We engaged with more than 4,000 of our customers as we developed this plan to find out what they wanted and the type of schemes they wanted to see in the future.

“It was very clear they wanted a secure, reliable water supply which would not run out of water and they supported new schemes such as water-re-use which would stand up to long-term droughts in the future.”

The plan also looks at how the company will meet challenges such as population and housing growth, the effects of climate change, new laws which will reduce the amount of water that can be taken from rivers and groundwater and rising energy costs.

More details are available at www.swhaveyoursay.co.uk/wrmp