An open data strategy for the water industry

There is a growing movement towards openness in the UK water industry and progress is already being made both within individual companies and at a sector level. This comes proactively from many of the water companies themselves, including those who are members of the Stream initiative and from Ofwat, who are actively encouraging the sector to accelerate towards openness, and whose recommendations this strategy responds to.

The water sector is facing unprecedented challenges and we are committed to building trust in response to demands for greater transparency from the public and civic society. Companies are also facing increasingly complex and novel issues, many of which are driven by volatile and uncertain factors such as climate change. Coupled with increasing demand for higher standards of service at the same time as lower bills, the need for increased and faster levels of innovation and adaptability have never been higher.

It is also becoming increasingly clear that water companies cannot solve this challenge alone. The approaches and interventions that led to improved performance since privatisation are no longer sufficient on their own to address the new era challenges facing the sector. The sector needs to increase transparency and collaboration, in a systems-focused way, leveraging broader pools of innovative talent and data to help accelerate the speed at which the sector can adapt and keep pace with the challenges ahead. Opening sector data is a key enabler of this.

To go far, fast and efficiently as a sector, we recognise that we need to go together. Our initial steps together were laying out our plans in the very first Water Sector Open Data Roadmap. The roadmap outlines the activities and outputs that we believe need collective action and adoption by the water sector to maximise the value generated, while at the same time minimising any risks and harms from open data publication.

One of our promises was to create and publish an overarching open data strategy for the water sector to articulate the collective vision and mission for the publication and use of open data, and to help align the open data strategies of each water company.

This is that strategy. It is our vision for the future of open data in the water sector, the priorities we intend to focus on first, and the commitments we make as an industry to be as responsible stewards of data as we are stewards of national infrastructure and the natural environment.