The Mayor's draft water strategy - london.gov.uk - Greater London ...

20 The Mayor’s draft water strategy
• The London Housing Strategy 7 was
published in May 2009. It includes
objectives for more sustainable homes
including reduced energy and water
consumption and adapting to climate
change.
• Energy – The Climate Change Mitigation
and Energy Strategy, referred to above, is
now being drawn up. The treatment and
supply of fresh water and the treatment
of sewage are significant users of energy
and sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
However, the largest use of energy is to
heat water in the home.
• The Transport Strategy Statement of
Intent 8 , published in May 2009, forms a
framework for developing the new strategy
and contains potential policies and
proposals that could be developed further,
setting the scene for a full draft of the
strategy that will be consulted on in the
autumn of 2009.
• Rising to the Challenge: Proposals for
the Mayor’s Economic Development
Strategy for Greater London was
published in May 2009. It sets out the
Mayor’s broad intentions for building
London’s economic future.
• Biodiversity strategy – The Biodiversity
Strategy for London was published in
2002. It recognises the importance of
the Thames and other waterways for
biodiversity, and promotes the restoration
of de-graded tributary rivers.
Investing in infrastructure
1.14 In 1985 the then Greater London Council
said in a report London’s Decaying
Infrastructure: The Way Ahead 9 that ‘by
many standards London now [1985]
compares badly with other major European
cities in terms of the quality of life for its
residents and workers, and in terms of
its attraction as a location for investment
and growth ... there is no doubt that the
decline of much of London’s infrastructure
(particularly in Inner London) reinforces
these problems’. It went on to say:
• In 1985, ‘most of London’s central sewer
system [was] more than 70 years old, and
almost half the water mains [were] over 75
years; a substantial proportion [was] over
100 years old’
• Local authorities, House of Lords’
committees and the government had
all expressed concern about the failure
rates of water mains and sewer piping.
The estimates of the level of necessary
maintenance and renewal differed widely
• The government’s financing limits were
reducing capital spending programmes.
1.15 There has been major investment, for
example in the London Ring Main, for
water supply. However, in many ways,
24 years after this report, the statistics
have just moved on with half the water
mains now over 100 years old. It is only
relatively recently that Thames Water has
been able to begin a major programme to
replace the Victorian mains. It expects to
have replaced 2048 kilometres of mains,
or nearly seven per cent, by 2010. Current
consumers have to bear the cost of past
underinvestment in maintenance.