Welsh Water makes £40m investment pledge

The not-for-profit water firm is reinvesting cash back into its network

Welsh Water Dŵr Cymru says it will spend an extra £40m on water and waste services over the next year.

The not-for-profit water company said the cash is in addition to a record £430m in capital investment in the past 12 months.

Publishing preliminary annual results, it recorded an annual operating loss of £15m - down from £99m previously.

The firm supplies 1.4 million homes in Wales, parts of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Wirral and Cheshire.

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Welsh Water Chief Executive Chris Jones said: "The extra investment we are announcing today, spanning support for low-income households to investment in the resilience of high quality drinking water, is all geared towards earning the trust of our customers, every day."

The investments will see:

• £7m to help reduce the risk of flooding in the west of Cardiff and Cardiff Bay.

• £5m improving water network reliability, especially in Rhondda Cynon Taff and Anglesey.

• £9m to adapt dams to meet the challenges of climate change.

• £6m to reduce the risk of a major water supply loss in Hereford.

• £7m to help fund support for low-earners to meet their bills.

The company said annual results showed "a strong overall operational performance in the last year", with average customer bills below the rate of inflation.