London’s authorities face an even-tougher task managing traffic flows over coming years, as Thames Water accelerates its mains-replacement programme.
The water company this week vowed to renew an extra 368km at least, by 2010, on top of the 1,235km already committed. Its pledge, representing a £150M investment, and is designed to ward off a fine of up to £66M from Ofwat for breaching its leakage target for 2005/06.
Announcing the legal undertaking, the water regulator said Thames Water’s failure on leakage was unacceptable. It relaxed the interim leakage targets, but lowered the 2009/10 benchmark to 720M litres/day – a 20% reduction from the current 894Ml/d.
Thames chairman, Jeremy Pelczer, warned that events beyond its control, including compliance with the Traffic Management Act, could affect its ability to meet the targets.