South East Water Launches Livestock Register to Support Animal Welfare During Outages
South East Water has launched what it describes as an industry-first livestock register designed to help protect animal welfare during water supply interruptions.
The new register will allow the water company to identify livestock keepers in affected areas and prioritise alternative water supplies during outages. According to South East Water, emergency support will be targeted where animal welfare risks are greatest, with the aim of having assistance on the ground within 48 hours.
Under the scheme, smallholders with five or fewer animals will be able to collect bottled or bulk water from designated filling points. For those keeping six or more animals, South East Water says it will use reasonable endeavours to provide water directly to farms through a range of measures including emergency bottled water, mobile bowsers, static tanks and bulk tanker deliveries.
The initiative follows feedback from farmers who reported that previous water supply interruptions posed immediate challenges for animal welfare and farm operations.
The announcement comes as South East Water continues work to improve water supply resilience, including the commissioning of a new £50 million water treatment works in Aylesford, Kent, capable of supplying up to an additional 20 million litres of water per day.
Members with livestock customers in the South East may wish to make them aware of the register and encourage eligible farmers to consider signing up for the scheme.
More information is available from South East Water's livestock water support page.
Authors
Vicky Robinson
Vicky Robinson is Head of Sustainability and is responsible for leading and co-ordinating AIC's work on sustainability.
