Average households can expect to pay almost £60 more next year for their water to help fund a £48m investment programme by Jersey Water over the next five years.

Water bills will rise by 15.5% from 1 January. Above-average increases to water charges are likely to continue from 2027.

Jersey Water says that the rises are necessary to fund projects to ensure that the Island always has enough water to meet its needs, and the water we drink is high quality.

The utility points to its latest research which forecasts that, within the next ten years, Jersey could face a potential water deficit of 8.6m litres a day during severe drought, which is almost half the island’s average daily supply.

Jersey currently has just 120 days’ worth of water storage capacity, making it extremely vulnerable to drought compared to many other places. The island’s daily demand is on average between 18m and 23m litres per day.

The 2030 strategy plans to increase the capacity of the existing desalination plant by 50%, reduce leaks and improve the network, adapt and future-proof its operations to respond to new water quality regulations, with particular focus on PFAS.

Jersey Water plans to detect and fix leaks faster with new monitoring technology, replace 6km of its 600km mains network, and expand smart meter technology gradually across the island so customers, in the future, will be able to track their water use, spot leaks early and manage bills.

CEO Helier Smith said: “One thing that the future is showing is that climate change is having an impact on our weather patterns and on the water we have available in the island, so collectively we need to plan and respond to that change in climate by becoming more water efficient, capturing more water in our reservoirs, and having resilience during periods of drought.

“That’s a journey that Jersey Water needs to go on, but we also need to work with our customers and the wider community to safeguard the precious resource that is water in our island.”

Around 2,800 properties are not connected to mains water and Mr Smith said that Jersey Water’s five-year plan contained a “modest” amount – £1.25m – to connect homes.

However, he added that the government’s Jersey Capital Investment Fund would also fund an extension of the network.