Yorkshire firms the least prepared in the UK to deal with water outage

Just weeks after flooding caused widespread damage to swathes of South Yorkshire, research from retailer Water Plus shows that the region’s companies are the most poorly prepared to deal with shortages or outages in the nation.

This comes despite the fact that almost a quarter of those who had a supply disruption over the last 12 months saw productivity fall.

Across the UK, the proportion of businesses proactively planning to deal with a water outage remains unchanged from an identical study conducted by Water Plus in 2017, indicating that increasingly unpredictable seasonal weather has had little impact on company attitudes to water which is worrying given the impact an outage can have on business.

The research found that business leaders in Yorkshire expect to lose almost a third of their company’s production or sales, on average, in the event of a supply interruption which lasts 24 hours or more.

Two-fifths of businesses in the region experienced an interruption to their water supply in the last 12 months alone.

Scott MacIndeor, head of advanced services at Water Plus, said: “It is critical that organisations and sites put plans in place to ensure they’re able to operate without too much disruption and return to business-as-usual as quickly as possible in the event of a leak, frozen pipe or water network outage.

“Many businesses, including those with smaller pockets, simply aren’t aware of the responsibilities they have for the water infrastructure within the boundaries of their property (which is from the point of the water meter). This can not only be costly but also lead to confusion when things go wrong.

“As we head into the colder months and the risk of pipes freezing or cracking increases, I’d encourage business leaders to develop both reactive and proactive maintenance plans.”