In the wake of OFWAT’s 2018 water resilience rules, utilities across the United Kingdom faced mounting pressure to strengthen supply chain visibility and ensure uninterrupted water services during drought conditions. The regulatory framework, designed to protect consumers and safeguard natural resources, required water companies to demonstrate that their operations and supply chains could withstand prolonged periods of water scarcity. By 2019, leading utilities had begun to refine their resilience plans by harnessing open data tools and adopting more granular supply chain risk assessments.
A fundamental step for utilities was the use of the UK open water network map. This public resource enabled firms to identify and map critical suppliers associated with key infrastructure, such as pipe manufacturers, treatment-plant component providers, and pumping equipment vendors. By integrating supplier data with geospatial information on water networks, utilities gained clearer insight into potential points of failure and dependencies that could jeopardize service continuity during a drought.
Developing resilience dashboards required a systematic approach to combining operational data with supplier performance metrics. Utilities were advised to build models incorporating supplier delivery times, historical lead-time variability, and asset failure rates, particularly for components crucial to drought response, such as temporary pumping systems and water storage units. Many firms began linking this information with real-time monitoring systems to predict and mitigate supply bottlenecks before they could affect customers. For example, where asset failure rates for specific pipe types were elevated in certain regions, procurement teams could prioritize pre-positioning of spare parts or secure alternative supplier agreements well in advance of peak demand periods.
The integration process typically started with a detailed supplier risk mapping exercise. Procurement and engineering teams collaborated to score suppliers based on criteria including delivery reliability, production capacity under stress conditions, and geographic vulnerability to the same drought impacts affecting the utility. This data fed into resilience dashboards that presented dynamic views of supply chain health, often featuring heat maps of supplier risk exposure, timelines for critical asset replacement, and status indicators for emergency stock levels.
To support transparency and community engagement, utilities were encouraged to produce regular progress reports for local councils and stakeholders. Templates for these “water supply resilience” publications focused on summarizing key indicators, such as supplier readiness, emergency response capabilities, and the status of mitigation projects like reservoir upgrades or pipeline reinforcements. Clear narrative explanations accompanied data visualizations, ensuring that technical details were accessible to non-specialist audiences, including local government officials and community leaders tasked with drought contingency planning.
By the end of 2019, best practices in the sector pointed to the value of embedding supply chain resilience directly into broader drought management strategies. Utilities that actively engaged with suppliers, maintained accurate and up-to-date dashboards, and communicated progress transparently were better positioned to secure public trust and regulatory approval for their drought preparedness measures. OFWAT’s 2018 regulations thus acted as a catalyst for a more data-driven and accountable approach to water service resilience across the United Kingdom.