Press release: Businesses urged to plan for water disruption

Businesses are becoming better prepared for long-term water challenges than they are for short-term supply disruption, according to a new report by Water Direct, the UK’s leading alternative water supplier.

The report “From Water Stewardship to Continuity: Reframing Water Resilience for Business Leaders,” found that while many organisations are making progress in water efficiency and sustainability, fewer are prepared for the operational impact of an unexpected interruption to supply.

It outlines how adopting a Dual Water Resilience approach – balancing long-term stewardship with the practical capability to continue operating when mains networks fail – can help businesses bridge the gap and reduce the impact of supply interruption.

Climate pressures, ageing infrastructure, and growing demand are creating strain on UK water networks, contributing to more frequent and, in some cases, longer-lasting interruptions.

Even a short interruption can lead to operational downtime, which can have a significant impact – for example manufacturers can lose up to £200,000 a day. Data centres can lose around £5,000 a minute.

The report, supported by Mitie, the UK’s leading facilities management and facilities compliance company, draws on insight from business leaders and operational experience from live water incidents. It highlights a growing gap between awareness of long-term water sustainability and preparedness for immediate operational disruption. Key findings include:

• Around half of businesses surveyed said they had experienced an outage with the same amount confirming they had contingency plans in place.
• Around a third said they had not yet developed any contingency plans.

Water Direct is the UK’s specialist resilience partner, supporting water utility companies, commercial and critical infrastructure organisations with alternative water solutions during planned and unplanned interruptions to mains supply.

Adam Johnson, Chief Executive at Water Direct said: “This report introduces a broader way of thinking about water resilience – one that recognises the need to manage both the long-term sustainability of supply and the immediate ability to continue operating when supply is interrupted.

“Efforts have quite rightly concentrated on reducing consumption, improving efficiency and protecting long-term supply. Those actions remain important and will continue to form the backbone of responsible water management.

“However, as disruption becomes more frequent and, in some cases, prolonged, organisations also need to think about continuity and how they maintain operations, protect customers and respond effectively when supply fails.”

Geoff Smith, Managed Water Services Director, Mitie, said: “Water resilience must be a board-level priority, driven by a clear, top‑down strategy that defines what ‘good’ looks like, from internal ownership and data visibility through to robust measurement and reporting.

“The organisations making real progress are those that start with why water matters to their operations, then translate that into action on what needs to change and, crucially, how they embed this across the business.”

Find out if your businesses is ready to respond to disruption. Download our free report today: Reframing Water Stewardship Report – Water Direct