Water is essential to everyday life in Jersey. Our role is to make sure Islanders have safe, reliable water today, while preparing and investing responsibly for the challenges the Island may face in the future.
Our five-year strategy to 2030 provides the backdrop for everything we are doing. Its aim is to protect Jersey’s water, improve the service we provide and build a stronger, more resilient water company for the Island we serve.
By 2030, we want to continue providing water people can trust, offer a great service to customers and support a healthier environment.
To achieve this, our strategy has three clear priorities:
Enough water for the Island, always
Keeping water safe
Smarter, resilient, future-ready operations
Our long-term strategic direction has not changed, but we are adapting the pace and detail of our work as circumstances develop.
Hear from our CEO, Helier Smith
Progress so far
During the first year of strategy from 2025 to 2026, we completed the move to our new headquarters, laboratory and operational hub at Rue des Pres trading estate. Bringing our teams and facilities together is helping us work more efficiently, strengthening our resilience and leading to better services for our customers.
We also began or progressed our key strategic projects, while maintaining strong day-to-day operational performance.
This financial year, we will build on those foundations. We are starting work earlier where there is a clear benefit, prioritising projects that matter most and improving the way we prepare for future risks.
Enough water for the Island, always
Jersey needs to prepare now for the possibility of longer dry periods, changing demand and greater pressure on our limited water resources.
A major part of our 2030 Strategy is therefore about securing the Island’s future water supply and investing appropriately to reduce the risk of water shortages.
Our most significant project is upgrading the desalination plant. We started planning this work several years ago and will progress this during 2027.
The upgrade of the plant remains the most practical and cost-effective way to strengthen Jersey’s water supply and reduce the risk posed by future droughts.
Alongside this project, we will also be:
- investing in essential upgrades to our treatment works and water-storage facilities;
- improving the protection and reliability of important treatment processes;
- renewing priority sections of the mains network; and
- using better monitoring to find leaks and respond to problems more quickly.
Together, this work will help us make the best use of Jersey’s available water, reduce waste and maintain a dependable supply during periods of high demand or drought.
Keeping water safe
Providing safe, clean water remains at the heart of everything we do. One of our main areas of focus is PFAS, a group of chemicals found widely in the environment.
The Government has not yet made final decisions about Jersey’s future PFAS regulation, the timetable for meeting it or how any major new treatment infrastructure would be funded. This means there is still uncertainty about what solution may be needed.
While these decisions are being made, we are not standing still. We are carrying out treatment trials at our water treatment plants, closely monitoring emerging international understanding and best practice so that we are prepared for a range of possible future standards and can respond appropriately when the Government confirms the way forward.
We allocated £2 million for PFAS work over the financial years for 2026 and 2027, supporting these trials, our research and other preparatory activity.
The pilot trials began in May 2026 at both of our water treatment works. They are testing different treatment approaches and will help us understand which options are most effective, affordable and suitable for Jersey over the long term. The trials are also intended to provide reliable evidence to inform future investment decisions.
At the same time, we are examining what a comprehensive, long-term PFAS treatment solution could involve. This includes looking at possible designs, locations for a potential new treatment works, costs, funding, waste management and delivery arrangements. Bringing this work together will allow Jersey Water and the Government to make informed decisions based on strong evidence. Our aim is to identify a solution that meets future regulatory requirements and international expectations, and at the same time is affordable, deliverable and environmentally sustainable.
Our wider work to keep water safe will also include updating our Drinking Water Safety Plan and continuing work to address remaining lead pipework on the mains network.
Smarter, resilient, future-ready operations
Prepared for future challenges
Water is a critical service, so we must be prepared for a wide range of events, including disruption to supply, water quality incidents, severe weather and other operational risks.
Over the course of this financial year, we will focus on testing and evolving our incident response approaches to support resilience and maintain business continuity. This will cover all aspects of our operations, from treatment works and water supply to physical and digital sites, systems and information, helping to make sure we remain well prepared to respond to a range of potential incidents.
We will continue investing in the people, infrastructure and information needed to provide a reliable service.
Planned work includes:
- improving how our existing two treatment works support each other;
- enhancing our operational resilience;
- further strengthening our proactive approach to maintaining important assets; and
- making customer services easier to access through a new website.
Listening to and working with others
Many of the decisions ahead cannot be made or delivered by Jersey Water alone. Securing the Island’s future supply, responding to PFAS and funding major infrastructure will require close co-operation with the Government, customers, suppliers, partners and the wider community.
We therefore intend to engage earlier, more openly and more consistently. We will explain why investment is needed, what choices the Island faces and what those choices could mean for customers. Through a dedicated programme of engagement, we will work with Islanders and partner organisations to build understanding and support for how we meet Jersey’s long-term water needs.
Investing responsibly
Our overall financial approach remains the same: making sufficient investment to protect water quality and supply, while keeping customer bills as fair as possible.
By reinvesting retained profits responsibly and sustainably into the Island’s water infrastructure, we will improve customer outcomes and help meet Jersey’s long-term water needs.
What this means for Islanders
The work in this plan is about protecting the things that matter most to you, our customers:
- Safe, trusted drinking water;
- Enough water for Jersey, including during dry periods;
- Fewer leaks, bursts and supply interruptions;
- Stronger preparation for emergencies;
- Clearer and more accessible customer services;
- Fair and responsible decisions about investment; and
- Open conversations with you about Jersey’s long-term water future.
Carrying out this work now is helping us lay the foundations for our 2030 ambition: a stronger, more resilient and future-ready water company that does right by our customers and right by Jersey.
What this means for your bills
We know that rising costs are a concern for many of our customers.
We have worked hard to keep customers’ bills as low as possible while balancing the need to make essential investments that will help ensure Jersey has a resilient and secure water supply for the future.