1. Executive Summary
The purpose of this document is to set out Southern Water Services’ (SWS) bid assessment framework to support the market development to deliver water resource management plan solutions and solutions for the transport, treatment & disposal of bioresources.
Innovative solutions put forward for water resources could include: new sources of water; shared sources of water; transfers; demand management solutions; leakage services and catchment management improvements.
For bioresources, innovative solutions could include more efficient transport of sludge, innovative treatment of bioresources and more sustainable disposal of Biosolids which might include nutrients (or other useful materials) recovery.
All solutions put forward by third parties, as part of this bid process, must be compliant with all of the relevant legislations, regulations and guidance such as WRAS/Regulation 31 approved items.
2. Introduction
SWS supply water to more than one million homes and businesses in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Most of the region is officially classed as ‘water-stressed’, which means that at times the demand for water can be higher than the amount available. However, each county also has different water sources and experiences different weather. It's not unusual for one area to be in drought while supplies are normal in a neighbouring area. The map in Figure 1 (below) shows where we supply water and the average amount of water used. We divide the area into 14 ‘water resource zones’.