In recent years, we have seen evidence of a changing climate with more extreme weather patterns – heavy winter storms such as Desmond and Eva and dry weather events over summer. Predictions forecast that the changing climate will continue to accelerate over the next 25 years. Like many places across the UK, the population of the North West is expected to grow. Major towns and cities such as Manchester and Carlisle are expected to expand significantly.

The combination of these two challenges, plus other future uncertainties mean we need to plan and prepare a
resilient wastewater service that can adapt.

Find out below how we’re delivering the DWMP and what you can do to get involved.

Over the next 25 years…

We will collect, treat and recycle wastewater in compliance with our permits, now and in the future, to protect the natural environment.

Over the next 25 years…

We will protect, restore and improve the natural capital of the North West through the delivery of our actions.

Over the next 25 years…

We will sustainably reduce the risk of sewer flooding in the North West.

Planning with partners

There are many organisations with varying roles and responsibilities relating to water management – water doesn’t always recognise these boundaries! This is why partnership working is vital to effective drainage and wastewater planning. The DWMP will provide a basis for more collaborative and integrated long term planning alongside our partners across the region to tackle shared risks relating to drainage, flooding and protecting the environment.

We’ve been working through Strategic Planning Groups, with partners across the Environment Agency, Lead Local Flood Authorities and CaBA to identify areas of shared risk and potential opportunities.

We’re also looking to identify wider opportunities for third party delivery of our surface water management and catchment management options. Click here to submit an option and register for our webinar.

Future Uncertainties

In thinking about future challenges and setting our long term objectives, we recognise that the next 25 years are uncertain. In order to set out how the different drivers could shape our future, we have created three plausible, coherent and diverse scenarios; shaping extreme and diverse ‘futures’ for the North West. The scenarios are focussed on the future of water, wastewater and related services in the North West.

DWMP Customer Portal

The DWMP is made up of a lot of individual documents. The purpose of the DWMP Portal is to display our plan geographically to allow our customers to view their forecasted risks up to 2050. The plan is modelled, it does not display live or historic information. The customer portal has been designed to make the findings of the DWMP more accessible.

Click here to view the portal