Historic Water Dataset

Updated: 15 Jul 2024

Selected data on Britain's water sector spanning back as far as 1961

Published: 31 Aug 2022 Tagged: Water & Floods

Summary

The Commission has curated a historical water and wastewater dataset to help build a more comprehensive picture of the UK's water industry and identify trends.

The Commission asked ICS Consultants, with the help of Professor John W. Sawkins of Herriot-Watt University and Professor David S. Saal of Loughborough University, to collate water and wastewater statistics from before a time where records were digitised. The resulting statistics from the pre-privatisation era are presented here and are available for all to download.

The data presented is up to date at the time of publication. Both Ofwat and DiscoverWater publish regular updates to this data.

Next Section: Water bills

Data showing the change in average household bills for water and sewerage services in real terms. The data series combines data from WaterFacts and Ofwat to provide a fuller picture of how water bills have changed between 1975 and 2021.

Capital expenditure

Gross capital expenditure by the water industry across England and Wales between 1974 and 2021. Regional Water Authorities were first established in 1974 so this is the earliest that data is available. The chart shows both annual gross capital expenditure and, since privatisation, average gross capital expenditure over the five years between each price review (the ‘asset management plan' or AMP period). Gross capital expenditure in every AMP period has been significantly higher than at any point under Regional Water Authorities.

Capital expenditure by the water industry in England and Wales

Source: WaterFacts (1985), Cipfa (1988), Ofwat long-term data series of company costs (2022) Note: 1974/75-1984/85 data is assumed to include gross capital expenditure on land drainage and flood protection, and is therefore consistent with the responsibilities of water companies post-privatisation. This assumption has been shown to hold for Anglian, Severn Trent and Yorkshire regional water authorities for the period 1974/75-1984/85. 2015/16-2020/21 data includes Havant Thicket Reservoir and Thames Tideway Tunnel capital investment. Post-privatisation capital investment is based on the latest Ofwat data which supersedes that used in the Commission’s Baseline Report in November 2021, and ensures consistent accounting throughout the time series. Prices have been inflated to 2021/22 terms using the OBR's GDP deflator series.

Next Section: Water meter installations

Data showing the percentage of properties with water meters installed in England over time. The proportion of households with water meters installed has risen steadily over the past three decades.