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From “Oasis” to Net Contributor: How Portsmouth Water Is Rewiring Resources on England’s South Coast
Executive Exchange — Episode feature with Bob Taylor, Chief Executive, Portsmouth Water

In this Exec Exchange episode, Dr. Piers Clark sits down with Bob Taylor, Chief Executive of Agua de Portsmouth, to explore an increasingly urgent question for the UK and far beyond:

How does a small, low-cost, groundwater-fed utility transform itself into a regional enabler of resiliencein a rapidly tightening water system?

Portsmouth Water is not a big name on the global stage. It serves around 750,000 people on the central south coast of England, is water-only, and has historically enjoyed a near-unique position: plentiful high-quality groundwater, minimal treatment costs, and the lowest drinking water bills in the UK.

But that story is changing fast. And the way Portsmouth is responding offers useful lessons for utilities, regulators and policymakers wrestling with the same clash of forces: climate risk, environmental restoration, and rising public expectation.

A Small Utility with an Unusual Asset: Europe’s Largest Spring Field

Portsmouth Water sits on a large chalk aquifer that runs from East Anglia down to the south coast. Almost all of its supply comes from this underground “sponge” — high-quality, relatively stable water that needs very little treatment.

A third of that water comes from Havant springs, which Bob describes as:

  • Around 40–50 artesian wells feeding a large spring field
  • Possibly the largest spring complex in Europe
  • So iconic locally that it’s wrapped in history and emotion: Havant parchment, made using spring water, is said to have been used for the Magna Carta

For decades, that geology has been Portsmouth’s quiet superpower:

  • Resilient yields, even in drought years
  • Very low treatment costs
  • Resulting in average water bills of around £120 per year (water only), versus the next lowest at roughly £160

Add in lean operations and careful capital spending, and you get a utility that has been both cheap and reliable – something customers understandably love.

The Comfort Zone Vanishes: Designated “Water Stressed”

That comfort, however, has effectively ended.

The UK’s water resources picture is becoming harder to ignore:

  • Rainfall is unevenly distributed, with plenty of water in some regions y chronic scarcity in others, particularly in the south and east
  • En southeast of England receives roughly the same annual rainfall as Jerusalem – about 22% of the UK national average
  • National and regional planning now accepts that major infrastructure is needed to move water from where it is to where people live

Every five years, companies must produce a Water Resources Management Plan. These are now done on a regional basis, and what they show is sobering: large-scale transfers, reuse schemes, and new storage are no longer optional.

Portsmouth, until recently, was an “oasis”:

  • Abundant chalk groundwater
  • No hosepipe bans since 1976 (and even then, only to align with neighbours)
  • Historically not designated as water stressed

In 2021, that changed. The company was officially designated “water stressed” — a technical status, but one with major implications:

  • It unlocks the ability to roll out compulsory metering
  • It recognises that Portsmouth is now a key regional source, not just a self-contained local system

Portsmouth already exports about one-third of its production to neighbouring Southern Water, and that role is set to grow.

Building the First Major UK Reservoir in 30+ Years

At the heart of this transformation is Havant Thicket Reservoir:

  • En first major new reservoir built in the UK since privatisation in 1989
  • Supplied initially by surplus flows from Havant springs
  • Designed not primarily for Portsmouth’s own use, but to support Southern Water and the wider region

Why is Southern Water so critical here?

Because they have been told, by government and the Environment Agency, that under drought conditions they will no longer be allowed to abstract from the Rivers Test and Itchen – two of the most famous chalk streams in the country and ecologically highly sensitive.

To facilitate that environmental restoration while still meeting demand, Southern Water faces a “200 megalitre per day plumbing problem” in Hampshire.

Havant Thicket Reservoir is one of the major solutions:

  • It allows surplus spring water to be captured and stored
  • It provides a new strategic source for Southern Water under constrained river abstraction rules
  • It embodies a new model of inter-utility collaboration, where a small company becomes central to a regional environmental and resources strategy

Portsmouth is also developing plans to make the reservoir more powerful still.

Adding Reuse: Turning the Reservoir into a Hybrid Asset

Alongside the spring-fed supply, Portsmouth and Southern are exploring a secondary feed into Havant Thicket:

  • Recycled water from a large nearby wastewater treatment plant operated by Southern Water
  • Treated to a high standard and then used to augment reservoir inputs

If implemented, this reuse element could:

  • Provide around 100 megalitres per day – roughly half the 200 Ml/d regional requirement
  • Increase resilience by diversifying sources
  • Showcase a UK example of large-scale indirect potable reuse feeding into a strategic reservoir

For an industry that has lagged international leaders (like Singapore, parts of the US, and the Gulf states) on reuse, this is a significant shift.

From “Loads of Water” to “Use Less, Please”: Universal Smart Metering

Water resources are only one side of the equation. Demand matters just as much.

Portsmouth’s customers are, paradoxically, some of the highest per capita water users in the UK:

  • Around 158–160 litres per person per day
  • En national long-term target es 110 litres
  • So Portsmouth needs to drive at least a 40+ litre reduction per person, per day

Historically:

  • Only about one-third of households were on meters
  • The rest paid on unmeasured tariffs, reflecting the historic view of Portsmouth as water-rich

With the new water stressed designation and the emerging regional role, that’s no longer tenable.

The company is now planning a universal smart metering programme:

  • Starting rollout from 2025
  • Moving all customers onto smart meters, enabling:
    • More accurate billing
    • Near-real-time leakage detection
    • Better customer engagement on consumption
    • Data-driven demand management

For customers, this will feel like a sharp pivot: from “we’ve never had restrictions and water is cheap and plentiful” to “we need you to use less, and you’ll see exactly what you use”.

Managing that narrative — explaining why the change is happening, and how it ties to environmental protection, regional fairness and long-term resilience — will be as important as the technology itself.

A Two-Way Street: Global Learning, Not Just Exporting “UK Expertise”

Bob has spent 40+ years in the sector, including 10 years overseas in Kazakhstan, India, China, the Middle East and the Emirates. Historically, the UK (along with France) was seen as a global centre of water sector expertise, exporting:

  • Utility management models
  • Regulatory frameworks
  • Leakage and asset management know-how

That dynamic has evolved.

As a Saudi colleague recently said to Bob:

“25–30 years ago the UK and France were the centres of expertise. That doesn’t seem to be the case today.”

Other countries have built their own deep expertise, particularly in:

  • Desalination
  • Water reuse
  • Operating in arid and extreme climates

The result is now a genuine two-way exchange:

  • The UK can still export strengths like leakage management, regulation, and customer engagement.
  • It can also import lessons on reuse, desalination, and mega-scale resilience from places like the Gulf, Australia, and the US.

Portsmouth’s work on reuse-fed reservoirs and smart metering sits right at that intersection.

Takeaways for Water Sector Leaders

Bob Taylor’s story at Portsmouth Water distils several key themes that will resonate across B2B audiences in the water value chain:

  • Geology is not destiny. Even utilities with apparently “secure” sources will find themselves drawn into regional resilience obligations.
  • Environmental restoration is now a core driver of investment. Havant Thicket exists not to serve local growth, but to free up chalk streams from abstraction.
  • Demand management is non-negotiable. High per capita use plus growing inter-regional exports makes universal metering and behaviour change unavoidable.
  • Reuse is moving from concept to mainstream. Blending recycled water into strategic resources like reservoirs is likely to become a major UK pattern.
  • Expertise flows both ways now. UK utilities have as much to learn from international peers as they have to teach.

For a small coastal utility, Portsmouth Water is playing an outsized role in how the UK — and specifically the water-stressed southeast — will navigate the next decades.

To hear the full discussion with Bob Taylor on reservoirs, reuse, regional collaboration and the changing face of UK water, listen to this episode of the Exec Exchange.

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