Scotland’s public water and waste water provider has reported that it has continued to deliver a high level of service for its customers as annual investment exceeded £1 billion for the first time.
Scottish Water has published its ‘Annual Report and Accounts Performance and Prospects 2023/24’ highlighting how it ended the financial year with most of its key measures in target. This included continuing to provide high quality drinking water, delivering on sector-leading customer satisfaction measures, and reducing environmental pollution incidents. It also cut its emissions further and installed more state-of-the art technologies to treat waste water more efficiently.
The unpredictable weather was one of the biggest challenges, as with previous years. The record hot and dry temperatures last summer, a series of winter storms and far heavier and unpredictable rainfall put pressure on the network, and teams worked round-the-clock during incidents to keep customers in supply and prevent flooding. High inflation rates and supply chain issues added to the challenges across the year.
Scottish Water Chief Executive, Alex Plant, who marked a year at the organisation in June, said: “Our performance held up well and we delivered an overall improvement on service compared to last year. This is a significant achievement in the face of the range of challenges we faced. Ending the year with almost all of our key measures above or within target shows we are continuing to provide a high level of service to our customers. We are trusted to deliver a vital service for the people of Scotland, and we are incredibly proud of the work we do.
“As has become the norm, extremes of weather affected much of our work. As the climate continues to change, it becomes ever harder for us to maintain the core service we provide our customers and to protect and enhance the environment – looking ahead we will need to secure the right level of investment and continue to innovate to ensure we can adapt to our changed climate.
“It’s not just about increasing capacity of assets such as tanks underground, we must develop far more nature-based solutions. These can positively reshape our urban landscape to cope with changed rainfall patterns in ways that reduce carbon, enhance biodiversity, and make our communities more beautiful and more resilient.”
Mr Plant said customers and communities across the country had benefited from the record £1.02 billion investment spent in the last year on upgrading and replacing water and waste water assets.
He said: “Our capital investment programme is one of the country’s biggest and is being delivered faster than ever before. It both protects the services our customers rely on day in and day out and helping communities to grow and adapt. When we build new works, or upgrade existing ones, we do so in ways that are designed to cope with a more challenging climate and to protect the environment.”
“Our work is also a vital part of driving growth in Scotland’s economy. Our workforce is over 4500 people, and we work with and extensive supply chain to deliver the outcomes our customers and regulators expect.”
He added: “As a publicly owned, independently regulated and commercially run company, we understand the vital role Scottish Water plays in ensuring a sustainable future for Scotland and in enabling economic growth. We also know our customers expect value for money for every pound we spend.
“As I look to the year ahead, I am convinced we are on the right course to drive performance, deliver significant levels of investment, and further strengthen our customer focus. It will require collaboration and determination, but I am confident it can be done. And we ask all our customers to remember, it is your water, your life – and we all have a part to play to protect this precious resource.
“Our latest annual report is an excellent summary of our performance over the last year and gives an insight into some of the pioneering projects that lie ahead.”
To read the full report and watch a video of Scottish Water’s Chief Executive and Chair, Deirdre Michie, welcoming this report:
https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/help-and-resources/document-hub/key-publications/annual-reports
