BLOG: Scotland's water: facing the climate challenge together - CEO Alex Plant

“We work closely with our customers, independent regulators, partners and stakeholders - “Team Scotland” - to enable the best outcomes for all who rely on us every day.”

Alex Plant
CEO, Scottish Water

Dear Customers, Stakeholders and Partners,

As I mark my first year as Scottish Water’s Chief Executive, I want to share my thoughts on our country’s precious water resources and the challenges we face in keeping taps flowing, toilets flushing and our environment flourishing. 

We live in a time of huge uncertainty, driven by the impacts of climate change.   Record-breaking heatwaves, droughts, storms, and floods have put pressure on our water and waste water systems – many built more than 100 years ago - like never before.

As the publicly owned company providing these necessities to daily life in Scotland, Scottish Water has a duty to both deliver high-quality, reliable, and affordable water services for today and for generations to come.

And to do this, we must invest more than ever before, in infrastructure, in our people and in technology.
 
All of this is essential if we are to maintain Scotland’s water resilience, efficiency, and environmental performance in a changed climate. We work closely with our customers, independent regulators, partners, and stakeholders - “Team Scotland” - to enable the best outcomes for all who rely on us every day.

 In Scotland, we use nearly 40% more water per head than in Yorkshire. That is not sustainable, and we must all value water more as a precious and finite resource. To use water wisely and responsibly. We can all do our bit here, and we can all help keep our sewers clear from blockages by only flushing the 3Ps – pee, paper, and poo – which helps to keep our rivers and beaches clean. 

Everyone at Scottish Water is proud to serve the public – to be accountable to you, our customers, and to play our role in supporting a flourishing Scotland, contributing to social, economic, and environmental wellbeing. To reduce environmental impacts, to adapt to the climate change already upon us, we must act now, increase investment to build resilience, and not kick the can down the road and leave future generations to face the consequences. 

We must be honest and transparent about the choices we face. That is why we increased charges by 8.8% this year, in line with the cap set by our economic regulator. This was a difficult but necessary decision, allowing us to deliver investments to maintain the level of service that people expect and deserve, despite the more aggressive climate. We are committed to spending every penny of customers’ money wisely and providing value and support for those who need it most.

I want to build an even stronger relationship between our customers and their water company so that we navigate the challenging path ahead together.

And I want to be held to account for doing so. 

Yours sincerely,

Alex Plant,

CEO, Scottish Water