Wessex Water Explained

Wessex Water
Type:	Private company
Industry:	Water industry
Foundation:	1973
Location:	Bath, Somerset
Num Employees:	2,547
Parent:	YTL Corporation, of Malaysia
Services:	Water supply and sewerage services

Wessex Water Services Limited, known as Wessex Water, is a water supply and sewerage utility company serving an area of South West England, covering 10,000 square kilometres including Bristol, most of Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire and parts of Gloucestershire and Hampshire.^[1] Wessex Water supplies 1.3 million people with around 285 million litres of water a day.

The company is regulated under the Water Industry Act 1991. In 2016, it had about 2,100 employees.^[2]

Wessex Water is owned by the Malaysian power company YTL Corporation.^[3] Its headquarters are on the outskirts of Bath at Claverton Down, in a modern energy-efficient building by Bennetts Associates and Buro Happold.^[4]

History

The company originated as the Wessex Water Authority, one of ten regional water authorities established by the Water Act 1973. These bodies were privatised in 1989. Wessex Water Services Limited was purchased by American company Enron in 1998 for $2.4 billion and placed in a newly formed subsidiary, Azurix. Following Enron's collapse, in 2002 Wessex Water was sold to YTL Power International of Malaysia.

The water authority had acquired the assets and duties of a number of public sector and local authority water utilities:

• Bristol Avon River Authority
• Somerset River Authority
• Avon and Dorset River Authority (except the part of the area of that drains to the River Lim)
• Bath Corporation
• Dorset Water Board
• North Wilts Water Board
• South Wilts Water Board
• Wessex Water Board
• West Somerset Water Board
• West Wilts Water Board
• Bournemouth and District Water Company
• Bristol Waterworks Company
• Cholderton and District Water Company
• West Hampshire Water Company
• West Lulworth Water Undertaking

Four people, three of them Wessex Water employees, were killed in an explosion at a company site in Avonmouth on 3 December 2020.^[5]

Operations

Reservoirs and lakes

The company owns and manages several reservoirs including Blashford Lakes in Hampshire, Clatworthy Reservoir, Durleigh Reservoir, Hawkridge Reservoir, Otterhead Lakes, Sutton Bingham Reservoir and Tucking Mill in Somerset, many of which, in addition to supplying drinking water, are used for recreation and as nature reserves.^[6]

GENeco

Wessex Water's GENeco subsidiary, established in 2009,^[7] operates sewage treatment works. It recycles waste, produces renewable energy and provides the agricultural industry with fertiliser.^[8] In summer 2010, GENeco launched the Bio-Bug, a modified VW Beetle that runs on bio-gas generated from waste treated at sewage treatment works.^[9] Waste flushed down the toilets of just 70 homes in Bristol is enough to power the Bio-Bug for a year, based on an annual mileage of 10,000 miles.^[10]

In November 2014, the UK's first bus powered entirely by human and food waste went into service between Bristol and Bath, run by tour operator Bath Bus Company.^[11] Since 2019, biomethane powers buses on one of Bristol's MetroBus routes.^[12] The gas is produced at the company's "bioresources and renewable energy park" in Avonmouth, which is run by GENeco.^[13]

Performance

Wessex Water achieved a score of 4.53 in Ofwat's 'Satisfaction by company' survey 2012/13 (5 being ‘very satisfied’).^[14]

In 2013, Wessex Water's compliance with drinking water standards exceeded 99.9% and the company maintained 100% compliance with sewage treatment discharge consents.

In both 2011/12 and 2012/13, the company's leakage figure was 69 million litres per day, compared to a yearly average of 73 million litres per day between 2005 and 2010.^[15]

Wessex Water's greenhouse gas emissions totalled 119 kilotonnes of CO₂ equivalent in 2018/19,^[16] compared to 149 kilotonnes of CO₂ equivalent in 2011/12 and 159 kilotonnes in 2012/13.

Key people

Ruth Jefferson has been chief executive of Wessex Water since October 2024.^{[17] [18]} Colin Skellet was the chief executive from 1988 to 2024; he continues as group chief executive with overall responsibility for all YTL's UK activities. Skellet was appointed OBE in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to business and to the WaterAid organisation.

Francis Yeoh, a long-serving director of YTL Corporation and currently the executive chairman of the conglomerate, is non-executive chairman of the board of Wessex Water.

Environmental record

• May 1998 – Found guilty of discharging over 1 million gallons of raw sewage into a Weymouth, Dorset, marina on August Bank Holiday Monday 1997, the busiest day of the year. The company was fined £5,000 with £500 costs.^{[19] [20]}
• March 1999 – Ranked 4th in the top ten list of "worst polluters" in England by the Environment Agency.^{[21] [22]}
• May 2002 – Fined £8,000 for causing pollution in Dowlais Brook, Cwmbran in June 2001.^[23]
• April 2003 – Fined £5,000 with £1,000 costs at Minehead Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to causing poisonous, noxious or polluting matter to enter the Washford River in Somerset.^[24]
• July 2003 – Described by the Environment Agency as one of the worst "repeat offenders" for pollution incidents.^[25]
• 2004 – Fined six times for environmental pollution incidents.^[26]
• May 2007 – Fined £1,500 with £1,589 costs by Bristol magistrates after pleading guilty to one offence under the Water Resources Act 1991 of causing sewage to enter controlled waters. Untreated sewage had been allowed to pollute the River Frome in July 2006. The river was polluted again with untreated sewage at Frampton Cotterell in February 2007 and April 2007.^{[27] [28]}
• April 2008 – Fined £3,000 with £1,960 costs for allowing sewage to pollute the River Stour.^[29]
• March 2010 – Fined £6,000 with £2,235 costs at Weymouth Magistrates' Court after allowing sewage to pollute the River Stour near Shaftesbury in March 2009.^[29]

External links

• • Interview with Colin Skellett of Wessex Water – Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, April 2024

Notes and References

1. Web site: About the company . Wessex Water . 10 June 2016.
2. Wessex Water website http://www.wessexwater.co.uk/About-us/The-company/Our-employees/
3. Web site: Malaysian energy group YTL buys Wessex Water for £1.2bn . The Independent . 13 November 2010.
4. Web site: Wessex Water Operations Centre. Buro Happold. 13 November 2010.
5. Web site: Cork. Tristan. Grimshaw. Emma. Lane. Ellis. Roig. Estel Farell. 2020-12-04. Avonmouth explosion: Updates as four dead and one injured. 2020-12-04. BristolLive. en.
6. Web site: Reservoirs and lakes . 10 June 2016 . Wessex Water.
7. Web site: GENeco Limited . 4 December 2020 . Companies House.
8. Web site: GENeco . 2020-12-04 . geneco.uk.com . en-GB.
9. BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-10881080
10. Web site: Home . geneco.uk.com.
11. News: 21 November 2014 . UK's first 'poo bus' goes into service between Bristol and Bath . BBC News.
12. Web site: Bristol Community Transport unveiled as Metrobus m1 operator . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20181214062728/http://hctgroup.org/about_us/hct_group_news/630/Bristol%20Community%20Transport%20unveiled%20as%20Metrobus%20m1%20operator . 14 December 2018 . HCT Group.
13. Web site: 2019-07-18 . Biomethane bus refuelling station builds on the legacy of the Bio-Bus . 2020-12-04 . GENeco . en-GB.
14. Web site: Service Incentive Mechanism report . Ofwat . 24 September 2013.
15. Web site: Past performance . Wessex Water . 10 June 2016.
16. Web site: Annual results 2019.
17. Web site: Meet the board . 2024-11-16 . corporate.wessexwater.co.uk . en.
18. Web site: Loveday . Karma . 2024-04-14 . Ruth Jefferson to lead Wessex Water, as Colin Skellett stays on as group chief executive . 2024-11-16 . The Water Report . en.
19. News: Water firms pollute rivers every week. Michael. McCarthy. The Independent. London. 29 May 1998. 7. ProQuest document ID 312690147.
20. News: Make the polluter pay the full price. The Independent. London. 3 September 1998. 3. ProQuest document ID 312727468.
21. News: ICI Chemicals tops league table for pollution fines. Houlder. Vanessa. Financial Times. London. 22 March 1999. 7. ProQuest document ID 248234166.
22. News: ICI tops list of Britain's filthiest companies; The Worst Polluters. Gregoriadis. Linus. The Independent. London. 22 March 1999. 4. ProQuest document ID 312834884.
23. News: Water companies fined. Western Mail. Cardiff. 22 May 2002. 3. ProQuest document ID 341229258.
24. News: Water company fined for pollution. 1 April 2003. BBC News. 13 April 2013.
25. News: Pollution still pays as firms shrug off fines: League table of offenders fails to stem neglect. Paul. Brown. The Guardian. London. 31 July 2003. 11. ProQuest document ID 246008755.
26. News: Muddied waters?. Adams. Guy. The Independent. London. 30 September 2005. 14. ProQuest document ID 310834496.
27. News: Water firm fined over sewage spill. Julie. Harding. Evening Post. Bristol. 25 May 2007. 59. ProQuest document ID 333779177.
28. News: Water firm fined £3,000 for pollution. Western Daily Press. Bristol. 25 May 2007. 31. ProQuest document ID 334606821.
29. News: Wessex Water fined for river pollution. 29 March 2010. This Is Dorset. 13 April 2013.