Channel Island water companies agree to work together

Tuesday 09 July 2019

Water companies in Jersey and Guernsey have signed an agreement to share their knowledge, and pledged support and resources to each other in the event of an emergency.

The utility companies have agreed that they will meet at least twice a year in order to develop both businesses through sharing water industry knowledge and experience and reinforce their cultural understanding.

Both Jersey Water and Guernsey Water are the sole providers of treated water in their respective Islands. Jersey Water provides treated water to approximately 40,000 homes, while its Guernsey counterpart provides treated water to approximately 25,800 customers as well as a wastewater service.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by Jersey Water’s Chief Executive Officer, Helier Smith, and Guernsey Water’s General Manager, Steve Langlois, at the Institute of Water’s South West Region Weekend Conference which took place in Jersey earlier this year.

Helier Smith, Jersey Water’s Chief Executive Officer, said “One of the main aims of the memorandum is to improve service to customers whilst providing a greater resilience to the Channel Island community; we believe that we can achieve this by working together.”

The two businesses recognised that they have a vast amount of knowledge and expertise to share across the islands, from water catchment, treatment and storage, to customer service and staff wellbeing.

Steve Langlois, Guernsey Water’s General Manager, added: “The conference theme was collaborative working and sharing best practice, something which we already strive to do as part of our relationship with Jersey Water, putting our intentions onto paper seemed like the next logical step to really building on that relationship.”