Businesses across the UK are being urged to improve contingency planning for water supply interruptions as climate pressures, ageing infrastructure and rising demand place increasing strain on national water networks.
A new report from Water Direct, titled From Water Stewardship to Continuity: Reframing Water Resilience for Business Leaders, suggests many organisations remain more focused on long-term sustainability targets than on preparing for sudden operational disruption caused by water outages.
The report argues that businesses should adopt a “Dual Water Resilience” approach that balances long-term water stewardship with practical operational continuity planning.
According to Water Direct, even relatively short interruptions to mains water supply can have significant operational and financial consequences for critical industries.
The report states that manufacturers can lose up to £200,000 per day during operational downtime, while data centres may face losses of approximately £5,000 per minute during disruption.
Water resilience becoming operational priority
The report, developed with support from facilities management company Mitie, draws on insights from business leaders and operational experience during live water incidents.
It highlights what the organisations describe as a growing gap between awareness of long-term water sustainability challenges and preparedness for immediate supply interruptions.
Among the businesses surveyed, around half said they had previously experienced a water outage, while a similar proportion confirmed they had contingency plans in place.
However, approximately one-third of respondents said they had not yet developed formal contingency planning for water supply disruption.
Water Direct specialises in alternative water supply and emergency resilience support for utilities, infrastructure operators and commercial organisations during planned and unplanned interruptions.
Climate and infrastructure pressures driving concern
Across the UK water sector, concerns continue to grow around the resilience of ageing infrastructure as climate change increases pressure on supply networks through drought, extreme weather events and rising demand.
Business continuity planning is becoming increasingly important for sectors reliant on uninterrupted water access, including manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, hospitality and data infrastructure.
Adam Johnson, Chief Executive of Water Direct, said businesses needed to expand their definition of water resilience beyond sustainability targets alone.
“Efforts have quite rightly concentrated on reducing consumption, improving efficiency and protecting long-term supply,” Johnson said.
“However, as disruption becomes more frequent and, in some cases, prolonged, organisations also need to think about continuity and how they maintain operations, protect customers and respond effectively when supply fails.”
Board-level approach recommended
Mitie said water resilience should increasingly be considered at board level, particularly as operational risks linked to utilities become more visible.
Geoff Smith, Managed Water Services Director at Mitie, said organisations making progress were those embedding water resilience across operational and strategic decision-making.
“The organisations making real progress are those that start with why water matters to their operations, then translate that into action on what needs to change and, crucially, how they embed this across the business,” Smith said.
Download the free report today: https://www.water-direct.co.uk/resources/reframing-water-stewardship-report/
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