The U.K. water sector often is held up as a model for what investors like in a market — predictable regulations, transparent risks and well understood return expectations. However, that stability is set to change as the U.K. government and the Water Services Regulations Authority (Ofwat) rolls out a series of long-term policies that will reform the market and affect the standard five-year asset management plans (AMP) on which the water industry operates. The current AMP began in 2010 and is set to change again in 2015.

Simon Gottelier, investment manager with London-based Impax Asset Management, writing in a Nov. 30, 2012, notes — “Uncertainty in U.K. Water Regulation Could Hinder Investment” — states that the U.K. water sector has attracted nearly £110 billion ($177 billion) of investment since the