Government Switches On Water NSIPs And Proposes More

Today's entry reports on a consultation on the proposed Water Supply National Policy Statement.

On Monday, the government launched a consultation on the forthcoming Water Supply National Policy Statement (NPS), the document that sets out the policy on need for infrastructure projects and their impacts that should be assessed and examined. The consultation document can be found here and the consultation closes on 22 December.

NPS proposals

The draft NPS is not due to be published next year and so this is an unusual consultation (compared to other NPSs) in advance of its publication. This consultation is not just about what the NPS should contain, though, but also revisions to which projects are considered nationally significant and should use the Planning Act regime.

The main drivers for more water infrastructure are population growth, climate change (specifically increased risk of drought) and threats (from taking too much water from habitats that need it). Basically, the people aren't where the water is so we need more reservoirs near the people and more water pipelines from where the water is to where the people are.

Like main roads and railways, infrastructure planning for water is done through a series of five-year plans, in this case called Water Resource Management Plans (WRMPs). Unlike main roads and railways, the country is divided into areas covered by different companies and so to get the water to the people there will need to be projects across water company areas.

The consultation refers to a 'twin-track approach' - the second track as well as providing more infrastructure is more efficient use of water and less leakage. Interestingly, the proposed approach for projects is to declare a national need but leave it to the water companies to fulfil that need. Will that run into the same problems as housing, where local authorities' plans don't add up to the national need because they are no longer mandated to provide specified housing numbers?

NSIP proposals

After dealing with the appraisal of sustainability and habitats regulations, the consultation moves on to perhaps the most interesting topic: the revision of what are nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) for the supply of water.

The proposals...