Severn Trent to deliver £95m worth of environmental projects

Severn Trent has been given the green light by Defra, Ofwat and the Environment Agency, to deliver three projects aimed at tackling water scarcity and river health.

The water company will now bring forward an investment of £95m for the projects, due to start in 2025.

Projects include; the rollout of an additional 250,000 smart meters – aimed at helping customers reduce demand and tackle leakage, a project set to help increase reservoir capacity to provide more water resilience and installing enhanced monitoring at 80 sewage treatment works that will support river health.

The accelerated initiative approach agreed by Defra, Ofwat and Environment Agency is one of four ways companies can secure future investment and now will see around £1.6bn invested across the industry earlier than planned.

The fast-tracked projects will build on Severn Trent’s current five-year £2bn investment cycle, as well as it’s £566m Green Recovery programme. The company is recognised as an environmental leader by the Environment Agency, having been awarded its top four-star EPA rating three years in a row.
 
Liv Garfield, Severn Trent CEO said: “With challenges the industry is facing such as drought, it’s vital we can start sooner rather than later and not wait until the start of the next five year cycle in 2025 to get ahead.

“While we’re already making huge investments when it comes to the environment and river health, we’re absolutely always committed to doing more, as proven by our ambitious Green Recovery programme. And bringing forward investment allows us to do just that, and will see us going even further and faster in delivering our plans.

“Not only will our environment and rivers benefit sooner, but getting ahead allows us to gain valuable insight that can help shape future investment ahead of our next five year investment cycle.

“As well as the £95m investment, we also have the opportunity to bring forward additional investment that relates to our water resources management plan and our statutory environment programme. We are exploring which of these schemes are best suited to acceleration, allowing even more environmental, and customer benefits to be made sooner than planned”.