Why Wessex Water Is Moving to an Outcomes-based Model to Deliver Even Better Results

By Mark Coates MCIHT, International Director of Public Policy and Advocacy, Bentley Systems.

Wessex Water maintains 12,084 kilometers of clean water pipes and 35,024 kilometers of sewers across Somerset, Gloucestershire, Dorset, and Wiltshire. It treats 888 million liters of sewage from 2.9 million customers from as far north as Stroud and Bristol to as far south as Bournemouth and Weymouth.

Like all of Britain’s water companies, it faces an increasing challenge to deliver a more sustainable, environmentally conscious product that provides value for consumers within Ofwat’s regulatory framework.

Wessex is investing more than GBP 1.4 billion into its capital investment across the region by the end of AMP7. This investment comes with its own challenges, particularly in the face of increasing market pressure, with material prices above the highest inflation figures Britain has seen.

Wessex Water has a proud record of achievement. Across the 2021-22 financial year, it was ranked number one for customer experience, and the Drinking Water Inspectorate’s water quality compliance risk index. It was ranked as the second-best water and sewerage company for developer services experience by property developers and second in the reduction of pollution incidents.

However, despite its excellent performance for PR 24, Wessex believes that focusing on long term outcomes rather than short-term outputs will enable it to deliver a better service for customers.

Whereas outputs in the sector are usually specific, time-limited and prescribed within regulatory frameworks, Wessex wants to do more to achieve longer-term outcomes, such as investing to reduce leakage and deliver excellent river water quality. They have also been tasked with producing clean water using net-zero emission methods while also keeping customers’ bills affordable.

Taking this approach enables water companies to think more strategically over an extended period, freeing them up to choose the best tools and delivery routes to achieve the results policymakers, customers, and suppliers need, rather than effort being focused on delivering granular outputs that focus on long-term outcomes does not stop Wessex responding to the more immediate challenges during an AMP7 cycle, which require more direct action. 

For example, national concerns about intermittent sewage discharge—and the effect that it can have on pollution in rivers in periods of heavy rain—has seen Wessex prioritise investment to spend GBP 3 million per month to reduce storm overflow discharges by 25% across its network of 1,300 overflows.

Delivering this investment required a shift in urgency from a project, as Wessex had planned to deliver it in AMP8 but it is now part of the AMP7 plan. Wessex would like to make delivering an outcomes based approach a priority in AMP8. Like many in the sector, Wessex is working with ageing sewage and water infrastructure while improving reliability, system resilience, and value for money.

Investment in such a large infrastructure network means that it is crucial to spend money where it can achieve the most benefit. Finding intelligent and innovative solutions is part of this outcomes-based approach. Wessex obviously cannot replace every pipe, so it is important to prioritise key projects to tackle the most urgent limitations of its network.

For example, one key area of focus has been on procuring a 6.5-kilometre sewage pipeline to build resilience to its network in Bristol. The scheme will connect Bristol’s existing trunk sewer to the Frome Valley relief sewer, as well as will direct waste more efficiently around North Bristol to its water recycling centre in Avonmouth. 

Another key outcome is achieving net zero by 2040.Sustainability and environmental impact are important to the organisation, which must act as custodians of infrastructure in some of England’s most naturally beautiful places. As a company, it is particularly aware of the urgency of the climate crisis and, as a result, it has created a procurement and innovation framework, placing sustainability at its heart.

As part of this policy, it has harnessed the power of local wetlands in the Wessex region at its Cromhall Water Recycling Centre. As part of a trial project to find a nature-based alternative to chemical dosing to reduce phosphorus in treated wastewater released back into rivers, according to Wessex Water, it has found an 111% increase in biodiversity value, with the projected increase expected to continue significantly over a 30-year period.

These schemes benefit from an outcomes-based approach.

Wessex works with more than 2,000 suppliers every year, from subject matter experts to international civil engineering firms. Traditionally, procurement has been based around short-term outputs, such as cost, with people asking, “What can you deliver for us and for how much?”

Instead, Wessex’s model has evolved to thinking about procurement in terms of long-term benefits, instead asking, “What value are you adding to our business model by working with us, and do your values align with ours?” 

It is important for Wessex to deliver value for money, but it must also approach procurement by building relationships with suppliers based on shared values and ensuring procurement activities are undertaken ethically and free of conflict of interest.

By adopting this approach, Wessex can continue to deliver an industry-leading water and sewage treatment program for the people of the region that is ethical, sustainable and delivers value for money at a critical time in society.

To remain one of the U.K.’s best water and sewerage company, Wessex knows that it has to keep the innovation and outcomes flowing.