Climate change is predicted to drive changes in the distribution of water across the UK, and combined with our increased usage of water, is projected to lead to increased water scarcity in England by the end of the century. This will have repercussions on the supply and demand of water across the country and will require careful management to prevent negative impacts on people and the environment.
Water trading allows for water companies to source water from other water companies operating in different regions as well as third-party suppliers. It can support improved resilience of water supply and provide environmental benefits by reducing unsustainable abstraction in areas of water scarcity.
In this panel event we will hear from a number of water professionals working across sectors for their views on water trading, the challenges and opportunities it presents, and how it can best be managed.
Our speakers
Meyrick Gough has worked in the water industry for 33 years in a range of roles. He first started work in the industry as a consultant working before joining Southern Water in 1992, where he worked in a range of planning and operational roles within the company. In 2018 Meyrick joined WRSE as its first Technical Director and led the significant technical work, in partnership with the WRSE member companies to produce the first regional plan, where all investment modelling was carried out regionally and translated into the six company Water Resources Management Plans (WRMPs). Meyrick has now taken on a new role as the Managing Director of WRSE, in this role he will continue to develop the regional planning approach not only for the next plan in 2029 but also with an eye to what might also be required for the 2034 plan.
Simon Harrow is Interim Director of Water Supply in Ofwat working in the RAPID & Environmental Planning function. He is a technical and regulatory specialist with 20 years’ experience in water and asset management. Working at Ofwat and RAPID in various roles over the last nine years, his current role covers water supply planning, investment and delivery, spanning a range of company activities from reservoir safety to leakage to drought plans. Previously as Head of Water Enhancement he managed a multi-disciplinary team working on the assessment of water companies’ business plans for the five-yearly Price Review 2024 (PR24) which set the costs and deliverables expected of companies. He started his career spending six years hydrological modelling for the Canal & River Trust, followed by five years in Severn Trent Water’s water resources and asset strategy team.
Bob Hillier has over 30 years’ of experience in water resources planning, drought management, resilience and hydrology as a manager and senior advisor with the Environment Agency. For several years he was the national lead for his main passion, agriculture water resources. He now focusses on the critical link between water and food security as the owner of the independent platform, The Growing Voice, using his experience and expertise providing news and advice to the agriculture sector.
Daniel Johns is Managing Director at Water Resources East, the independent, non-for-profit, membership organisation tasked by government to create a regional water resources plan for all sectors and the environment in Eastern England. He was previously a senior civil servant at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and spent four years at the Climate Change Committee leading their work on adaptation. He is also a director of the Aldersgate Group and Kirk Hill Wind Farm Coop.
Dr Varsha Wylie is a Principal Process Engineer with Southern Water and has around 25 years of experience in the design and construction of water and wastewater treatment plants. Varsha has worked extensively on UK projects for several water companies. Before joining Southern Water, Varsha spent 2 years, managing the delivery of design projects in Pune (India) for international water utilities based in Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East and the UK. She also spent 3 years in Dallas (Texas, USA) as a client service manager and technical delivery lead working on projects for North Texas water utility clients. Varsha received her MSc in Environmental Technology from the University of Manchester, and she is a Chartered Chemical Engineer with the Institution of Chemica Engineers. Over the last 7 years, Varsha has worked in the Water Process team at Southern Water and is currently leading the process design work for four water recycling plants proposed in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent and Sussex. She is also the chairperson of the All Company Working Group on Water Recycling, set up by the drinking water, environmental and financial regulators, that aims to produce a guidance document on water recycling for the UK water industry. Varsha completed a doctoral research in the field of unregulated disinfection by-products in drinking water and earned a PhD in Environmental Engineering in 2024.
Our chair
Patric Bulmer has worked in the water industry for over 30 years, most recently as Head of Water Resources and Environment at Bristol Water. He was a founder member of the regional West Country water resources group and has been involved in the planning of new resources such as Cheddar 2 and the Mendip Quarries scheme.
Header image: © Bernd Brueggemannn | Adobe Stock
