The power of partnerships

Here at United Utilities, we know that if we are to deliver the best possible outcomes for our customers and the wider community, we must work together.

Different stakeholders have different capabilities when it comes to what they can do. Working together as opposed to working in silo creates a host of new opportunities and helps deliver increased benefit.

In the North West, we understand that without the support of our partners we would be unable to continue to provide water of the highest quality, treat wastewater before returning it safely to the environment, maintain our forests, land, reservoirs, or rivers, and ultimately assist in the management of a place that so many utilise on a daily basis.

So, who do we work with?

In order to ensure that we are delivering the right solutions in the right place, we work with a long-list of organisations, including the Environment Agency, the Rivers Trust, Natural England, local authorities, and an extensive number of landowners and stakeholders. 

These partnerships allow us to deliver multiple benefits, for our customers, for the land, and for the water.

Below are examples of just some of our partnerships.

To find out more about our partnerships you can listen to our podcast by clicking the link below. 

Listen here

Partnerships and CaST

Partnerships are essential when we consider Catchment Systems Thinking. Take for example our longstanding partnership with Groundwork UK called United Futures – this initiative helps to regenerate neighbourhoods that have been impacted by our mains and sewer improvement projects.

In the surrounding areas of Davyhulme treatment works in Greater Manchester, we employed the capabilities of this partnership to deliver a host of benefits, including the creation of a community orchard, the creation of a bog garden, and the creation of a bug hotel.

Whether it’s a charity, an NGO, a professional organisation, or a regulatory body, the partnerships we, at United Utilities, enter into are used to ensure that the needs of the entire catchment are considered. Working in this fashion allows for improved visibility and better overall outcomes!

We aren’t able to do everything in isolation - whether that be due to monetary costs, feasibility, or simply because it just wouldn't be effective and would take far too long - by harnessing partnerships we can work better and feed into a common, centralised goal - a better catchment!