We work hard to monitor and manage the network every day to make sure everyone has exactly what they need, using our innovative water supply grid to move water to where it's most needed.
Take a look below to read more about our water resources management plan and what we would do when the worst happens.
Balancing Yorkshire's water resources
We have a 31,500km network of underground pipes that allow us to move water around the whole of Yorkshire.
This gives us flexibility to take less water from areas experiencing low rainfall and reduce our impact on the environment. To make sure we have enough water for our customers, we make plans for now and the future:
- To maintain a supply of water in dry weather, we have developed a drought plan to demonstrate actions we can take.
- To ensure we have enough supply to meet future demand, we have created a water resources management plan.
Our Drought Plan and Water Resources Management Plan are available to read below.
You can also find information on Water Resources North on this page.
Strategic Resource Option
Alongside our Water Resources Management Plan, and the work of Water Resources North, we’re working with Severn Trent Water on a collaborative scheme in the Derbyshire Derwent Valley, called a Strategic Resource Option (SRO). This scheme is in the very early stages of development. You can find out more information about this scheme in the attached documents.
Upper Derwent Valley Reservoir Expansion Business Case
Upper Derwent Valley Reservoir Expansion response to Gate 1 representations
Water resources market information
Along with our Water Resources Management Plan, Ofwat requires all water companies to publish water resources market information. This data is published at a water resource zone level. A water resource zone is the largest area of a company’s supply system where all customers have the same water supply risk and is the level at which water resources are planned. Read our market information for our Water Resources Plan 2019.
This information includes costs for our current water resource management plan options and our preferred solution. If you have identified an opportunity to supply water resources or provide demand management or leakage services in our supply area, you can submit a third-party bid to be assessed in accordance with our Bid Assessment Framework. You can find more information on our Water Bidding Market page.
Bid Assessment Framework
Our Bid Assessment Framework provides information for anyone considering submitting a bid to us for either a water resource, demand management or leakage reduction solution.
The Bid Assessment Framework sets out the policies and principles we will use to ensure bids are assessed fairly and transparently. To enable assessment, we require any bid to include completed submission forms, which are available in the Bid Assessment Framework download.
Bids to supply water resource, demand management or leakage reduction solutions should be sent to - watermarkets@yorkshirewater.co.uk
Download bid assessment framework
For further information around our bid assessment framework and approach to the water bidding market, please see our dedicated Water Bidding Market webpage.
Trading and Procurement Code
If you’d like to trade water resources with us, we recommend that you read our Trading and Procurement Code. This Code defines the policies, principles and requirements that will be applied when third parties enter a water trading agreement with Yorkshire Water.
In order to encourage the water resources market, our economic regulator, Ofwat, has set out a system of financial incentives relating to new trades. A water company must be able to demonstrate it has complied with its approved Trading and Procurement code to obtain a financial incentive. In line with Ofwat requirements, the Code is intended to provide confidence that any trades that we conduct in accordance with this code – and for which we may seek incentive rewards – will deliver net benefits in an efficient manner.