Northern Ireland Water (NI Water) has a legislative requirement to produce a Water Resource Management Plan (WRMP) and a Drought Plan as part of its forward planning process. These two plans have been combined into the Water Resource and Supply Resilience Plan (WR&SR Plan). 

Following public consultation on its draft WR&SR Plan the final WR&SR Plan is complete and now available.

The WR&SR Plan is not only an important document for NI Water but also Northern Ireland plc, as it shows how the company will manage and develop water resources to make sure there is enough water to meet future supply needs.  

The WR&SR Plan considers population, housing, water usage and incorporates any predicted changes to our climate.  This includes highlighting how water supplies would be maintained during critical periods such as severe winters, drought and having a plan for drought.  

NI Water has significantly changed the WR&SR Plan since its 2020 version. Some of these changes include:

• A longer-term planning horizon from 25 to 50 years.
• Changing future weather patterns require increased resilience to more frequent and extreme events.  -This includes planning for extreme drought events that are estimated to occur once every 200 years. 
• Increased focus on environmental sustainability in support of carbon Net Zero targets.

The company has made significant improvements in water resilience for customers since the last WR&SR Plan was launched. The new WR&SR Plan aims to build on this work, ensuring continued high levels of leakage detection, sustained investment in water mains and water efficiency initiatives.

NI Water devised the WR&SR Plan with input from key stakeholders, including the Department for Infrastructure, the Utility Regulator, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, Northern Ireland Environment Agency and Consumer Council NI.