Networks November: A Year in Water Review and Drinks Reception

10:30am – Arrival and Registration

11:00-11:10 | Welcome and opening context

• Set the purpose for the Year in Water Review and the wider NN26 events programme.
• Frame the major water sector challenges, opportunities and delivery pressures for the year ahead.
• Identify the themes that will run through the day: supply, regulation, asset health, inclusion, innovation and delivery.

Speaker: Mark Smith, Chair of Future Water Association and Strategic Business Development Director, RSK

11:10-11:20 | Hear from our Host

Speaker: Imogen Fawcett, SEC Newgate

11:20-11:45 | Future Water Report Card Launch

• Discuss what the report card suggests about resilience, public confidence and investment delivery.
• Consider how the sector can use shared evidence to communicate priorities more clearly.

Speaker: Paul Horton, CEO, Future Water Association

11:45-12:30 | Water supply, drought readiness and water literacy

• Assess projected supply pressures and drought readiness for the following year.
• Explore regional planning, water-resource resilience and the public-facing water literacy challenge.
• Identify practical messages that could improve customer understanding and demand-side action.

Speakers:

Claire Spendley, Head of Finance and Commercial Service, Waterwise

Meyrick Gough, Water Resources South East

12:30-13:30 | Lunch

13:30-14:20 | Innovation hotspots and delivery gaps

• Identify where innovation is moving fastest across the sector and where progress remains limited.
• Explore examples such as upstream metering, DMA leakage, digital tools and operational data.
• Discuss what is needed to scale proven innovation rather than keep it in pilots.

Speakers:

Mumin Islam, Senior Growth Lead, Aqua Consultants

Jo Jolly, Director for Environment and Innovation, Ofwat

Shaun Mason, Strategic Programme Director, WRc

14:20-14:35 | Digital, cyber and AI update

• Review the impact of digitalisation, AI and cyber risk on water-sector operations.
• Discuss how regulation should respond to AI-enabled decision-making and emerging technology risk.
• Consider practical safeguards for data quality, resilience and public trust.

Tim Ager, Cyber Security GTM Leader, Honeywell Technologies

14:35-14:55 | Black History Month Roundup

Fareita Pauli, Future Water Association

14:55-15:20 | Break

15:20-16:00 | Operational Resilience: Is the Sector Ready?

• Workforce Resilience – Are we equipped with the skills and capacity needed for the challenges ahead?
  • Speaker: Adam Cave, Managing Director, Murray McIntosh
• The State of Water Resilience – How resilient is the water sector today, and where are the key vulnerabilities?
  • Speaker: Water Direct
• Systems Thinking & Innovation Resilience
  • Speaker: Pepe Puchol-Salort, Founder, DeBlue

16:00-16:40 | AMP transition plan and delivery progress

• Review progress 18 months into the AMP period and assess whether delivery is on track.
• Consider the role of government, regulators and the supply chain in maintaining momentum.
• Discuss the implications of the new regulator appointment timeline for implementation.

Speakers:

Kate Lloyd, Civil Engineering Manager, CECA

Emma Bertenshaw, Deputy Chair of Pipeline Industry Guild

16:40-17:00 | Closing reflections and next steps

Speaker: Paul Horton, CEO, Future Water Association

17:00-20:00 | Drinks reception

• Networking with attendees and event partners.
• Informal discussion of the day’s themes and follow-up opportunities.
• Relationship-building across the water, infrastructure and supply-chain communities.