Water investment to increase next year
£7.8 million is expected to be spent in 2026 on maintaining and upgrading the island’s water and wastewater networks.
Key investments include £825,000 for the next phase of the new ring main, which will increase drinking water supply to the north of the island and enable essential housing developments. A further £650,000 is budgeted to refurbish the water storage tank at Kings Mills water treatment works. This follows the refurbishment of the Forest Road storage tank in 2025, at a cost of around £1.1 million.
Whenever possible, local contractors are used for works, which develops skills locally and helps keep the money within the island’s economy.
Total capital expenditure in 2025 is expected to be around £6.7 million. As well as the Forest Road storage reservoir, investments this year include a £200,000 refurbishment of Marais Stream, the largest water collection station on the island and £800,000 in the ongoing delivery of the new ring main.
£540,000 was invested in a rolling programme of water mains rehabilitation, and around £830,000 in sewer and manhole rehabilitation. Guernsey Water managing director Steve Langlois said that it is important for these rolling programmes to continue every year.
“Each year we refurbish around five kilometres of water mains. If we continue this every year it could take up to 100 years to refurbish the entire water network, and by the time we get to the end we will need to start again. This is why we call it a rolling programme. If we stop investing for long, the pipes will need to last even longer and will be more prone to bursts.
“It costs less to refurbish our pipes in a planned way like this than to repair them when they burst. Bursts also cause greater disruption because we need to dig up more of the road for repairs and the water that escapes can damage people’s property. Our rolling programme also ensures that leakage of water from pipes in Guernsey remains low. Last year it was less than half the average for water companies in England.”
This year Guernsey Water also began delivering a £1 million upgrade of the IT system it uses for centralised real-time control of its operations. Guernsey Water centralised its operations more than a decade ago to improve communication and efficiency. The supervisory control and data acquisition system that facilitated this has now reached the end of its lifespan. It is now being replaced to retain and build upon the efficiency it enabled.
“Failing to invest in the renewal of our infrastructure is not a cost-free option, as it stores up problems that will cost more to address in the future. If we were to do this, drinking water quality failures and water mains bursts would disrupt supplies to homes and businesses. Sewer collapses would cause flooding and pollution. Minimising these issues is essential, but it is also important to prioritise investment to ensure customers get best value for their money. The cost of eliminating these risks altogether would not be acceptable to customers, so it’s important to strike the right balance.”