Investment Overview

Northern Ireland has inherited a legacy of acute underinvestment in water and sewerage systems. As a consequence there is a considerable gap between our performance and that of the rest of the water industry in the UK in areas such as out of sewer flooding and water mains leakage. The quality of our drinking water and wastewater, while consistently good, could also be better.

Bridging this gap, delivering the high quality water and wastewater services that Northern Ireland requires to met the demands of a growing 21st century economy, will take time and will cost money. By the time we complete our three year Strategic Business Plan in March 2010, for example, we will have invested some £778 million in water and wastewater infrastructure – £174 million in water treatment and storage facilities and mains improvement and £614 million in wastewater collection and treatment systems. In the longer term we expect to spend over £3 billion in total by 2020.

All of this presents NI Water with, arguably, one of the most challenging jobs facing a company anywhere in the world - but the achievement of our objectives will result in major benefits to public health, the environment and the economy.