Escaping from prison: an economic reassessment of Rutland Water

Recently in the water industry interest has been growing in solutions to widening demand-supply gaps. These include demand-management elements. The paper examines the 1970 decision by Parliament to build Rutland Water and concludes that, despite over-predictions of water demands, the very few hard facts then available concerning water economy measures would probably not have prevented the reservoir being authorised, had they been taken into account. By 1981, however, dramatic reductions in expected population and per capita public water supply growth had occurred, with much more evidence available concerning the scope of demand-management. It is suggested a similar decision on economic grounds would probably have been a negative one.