Scottish Ministers have set statutory objectives for Scottish Water for the next six-year water-industry regulatory period, which runs from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2033. The directions, published on 23 October, replace the objectives that apply to the current 2021 to 2027 period. They set the standards Scottish Water must pursue as it plans services, investment and maintenance for customers and communities across Scotland.
The legal directions are part of a wider review of water and sewerage charges. They are not themselves a statement of household bills, nor do they approve a list of individual construction projects. Instead, they establish the objectives that will shape the regulatory framework from April 2027, alongside separate charging principles for the same period.
Service standards and public information
Scottish Water must maintain or improve service levels against the position at 31 March 2027. The directions identify three areas for improvement that Ministers say are of particular importance to customers: drinking-water quality and reliability of supply, lower leakage, and stronger protection from internal sewer flooding.
The company must also work to keep public access to annual information on outcomes for customers and improve wider access to performance data. That requirement is significant because it links the next regulatory period to information that can be compared year by year, rather than only to broad long-term goals.
Planning for assets, homes and a changing climate
The directions put asset maintenance ahead of unnecessary new construction. Scottish Water must maximise the useful life of existing assets while ensuring that they have appropriate capability and resilience. It must maintain an evidence-based long-term strategy on the condition and maintenance needs of water and wastewater infrastructure, including how investment affects risk, service levels and environmental outcomes.
They also require planning for capacity to serve new housing and the domestic needs of commercial and industrial development. That duty is qualified: new non-domestic capacity is not required where it would threaten water supplies for current or future household customers, or where the cost would be unreasonable.
By 31 March 2028, Scottish Water must provide Ministers with a report on options for addressing a projected 2050 gap between supply and demand associated with climate change and demographic change. The report is to consider demand management, including efficient appliances and water use, as well as supply options such as new reservoirs or redistributing supply. The directions do not select any one option or promise that a particular scheme will proceed.
Environmental duties and resilience
Environmental requirements include an urban-waters routemap covering 2028 to 2033, with annual progress updates. Scottish Water must also publish and maintain a list of unsatisfactory intermittent discharges by 31 December 2027. The list is to include location, investment priority and the expected timing of upgrades, subject to environmental regulatory approval of the information it plans to publish.
Other provisions cover bathing waters, wastewater-treatment compliance, sewer-overflow data, rainwater management, climate adaptation, security and the potential recovery of resources from sewage systems. The measures create duties for the utility, but their effect will depend on subsequent planning, regulation and delivery.
What the decision does not settle
A separate ministerial charging statement sets high-level principles intended to guide the regulation of maximum charges during the period. It does not set a final amount for an individual household. The newly issued objectives similarly do not guarantee a particular bill, project or environmental result. Their immediate effect is to set the statutory baseline against which Scottish Water’s plans and performance will be considered from April 2027.
The next test will be how the requirements are translated into investment plans, public data and practical improvements. For customers, the clearest early markers will be the promised performance information, the 2027 discharge list and the 2028 assessment of long-term water resilience.
