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Dwr Cymru / Welsh Water (DCWW) is a company which supplies drinking water and wastewater services to most of Wales and parts of western England.
History Welsh Water originated from the Welsh National Water Development Authority created in the 1973 restructuring of the water industry in England and Wales. It took over the following public sector and local authority water undertakings: The authority was privatised by stock market flotation in 1989, along with the other nine regional water authorities, which provided the company with a substantial cash surplus for some years, which it used to diversify in a wide range of sectors. It renamed itself Hyder in 1996 after taking over a local electricity company (SWALEC) and becoming a water and electricity multi-utility. However, in 1999/2000, following the windfall tax on utility profits and the 1999 Ofwat price review, Hyder got into financial difficulties which led to its breakup following a takeover battle. Western Power Distribution purchased Hyder on 15 September 2000 with a view to acquiring its electricity distribution business, and rapidly sold off Hyder's other assets. Welsh Water was sold by WPD to Glas Cymru for £1, along with £1.85 billion of Hyder debt *. Under the terms of its licence Glas Cymru may not operate in sectors other than water. The current business Dwr Cymru / Welsh Water (Dwr Cymru means Welsh Water in Welsh) is owned by Glas Cymru, a company limited by guarantee. Most of Welsh Water's activities are outsourced to other companies, such as Thames Water. One area in which Dwr Cymru decided to "be the best in breed" is in ensuring the health and safety of everyone who works for it. This is complicated greatly by the fact, as mentioned above, that the great majority of the companies activities are outsourced. DCWW decided that the only way of doing this was to set annual targets for its outsourced companies. This has meant considerable work for some companies, and many meetings run by DCWW's very small H&S team. Their hard work has succeeded in bringing DCWW not just to be the best in the UK, but the best in Europe. It has also succeeded in dragging up the H&S in just about every company involved. Coverage In general it provides services and operates across Wales from the catchments of the River Dee, River Clwyd in the north, round to the River Usk and River Wye in the south and everything to the west of these ctachments. This means that it includes part of the Wirral and Cheshire, and also parts of Gloucestershire, and Herefordshire, particularly Hereford. It excludes the area of Wales drained by the River Severn, which is instead served by Severn Trent. It also excludes those areas supplied by private water utilities such as Dee Valley water Ltd which operates in the River Dee catchment supplying the Chester and Wrexham areas with water | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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