Mott MacDonald appointed to new Anglian Water frameworks

Mott MacDonald has been appointed by Anglian Water to two new frameworks to support their water resources planning for their region and assist with the preparation of their new Water Resources Management Plan for 2024. The consultancy services will also include supporting the development of their strategic regional resource options that are contributing to the long-term water supply resilience of the UK.

Anglian Water faces some immediate and longer-term challenges, such as climate change, environmental protection, population growth and risk of drought. To understand these challenges, the company continues to work nationally and regionally to collaborate and deliver cross-sector approaches to managing water resources across its region. The company also continues to seek wider benefits in their approach to assessment and planning of water resources, further expanding engagement with stakeholders and influences such as biodiversity net gain, carbon impact, social outcomes and environmental impacts of water resources and how they affect communities.

Mott MacDonald has supported Anglian Water in this area since 2016 and been integral to the work of Water Resources East which Anglian Water helped establish. The consultancy services will continue to build on this collaborative work to support preparation of Anglian Water’s new Water Resources Management Plan for 2024, which focuses on the planning period 2025-2030, known as AMP8. The new plan will comprise a supply forecast, supply-side strategy, demand forecast and a demand management strategy, with a specific focus on protecting the environment, supporting improvement in social outcomes whilst managing water resources in the Anglian region.

The consultancy services will assess environmental impacts, consider the carbon impact of different options, and support the client to engagement with community stakeholders who might be affected by the implementation of future water resource options. The consultancy has partnered with Five Rivers, to deliver the environmental monitoring services, and Decision Lab who are experts in mathematical modelling, optimisation, simulation, data science and artificial intelligence to deliver the water resource planning factors services.

David Ocio, Mott MacDonald’s technical principal for hydrology, said: “We are delighted to continue our work supporting Anglian Water with their water resources planning for the region. We’ve worked closely with the company since 2016 delivering similar services, and we’re eager to build on the ambition shown in Anglian Water’s current Water Resources Management Plan by supporting development of the next five year plan to maintain and secure resilient water supplies to their customers.”

The new frameworks are expected to continue until March 2026 and potentially extended for a further three years until March 2029 to support long term planning.