Whilst we do everything, we can to maintain a consistent supply of water to all of our customers, there are occasions where we are unable to provide additional support. We expect businesses to reasonably protect themselves in the event of a loss of supply situation to help mitigate risk and prevent loss of business operations and issues that arise from this.
The statutory levels of compensation available from the GSS scheme may not be sufficient to cover the costs of any lost production should a business need to suspend/restart production. It is therefore important that customers understand the limitations of alternative supplies as set out above and in circumstances where business process rely intrinsically upon a constant supply of water, then it is imperative that customer’s business continuity plans take account of this requirement.
Non-household business customers may consider a range of options to ensure business continuity in a situation where supplies are lost. Business continuity solutions may suggest having the use of one or more of the following solutions in place to mitigate any interruptions to supply.
- On site storage (capacity required to operate for a defined number of hours)
- Provision of emergency tankered water supplies (private contractor)
- Borehole supplies
- Wastewater recycling/grey water recovery options
In summary it is important to understand the priority that wholesalers will apply to supplies in the first instance and that for some businesses the need to have a comprehensive business continuity plan may be justified in order to minimise the risk of lost production due to even a very short disruption to a mains supply.