Efficiency trials and targets at heart of new action plan to cut water consumption
Posted: Monday 3rd December 2007
The next steps in an action plan to deliver greater water efficiency were set out by Environment Minister Phil Woolas recently as he confirmed that a key cross-industry group will operate for another year.
The Water Saving Group (WSG) brings together a range of water industry bodies and was set up two years ago to encourage greater efficiency in the way consumers use water. Its members include Ofwat, the Environment Agency, the Consumer Council for Water, Defra, Water UK, Communities and Local Government, and Waterwise.
Over the past two years the group has helped drive a number of important developments to contribute to greater water efficiency.
Publishing the revised action plan today, Phil Woolas said: “Water is a valuable resource. Our supply is limited, but pressure on it is likely to keep rising. We have to be cleverer about how we use water, and that means being more efficient and wasting less.
“The Water Saving Group has scored some important successes towards helping this happen, and not least that a range of organisations, each with its own priorities, has continued to engage constructively and find common ground for making progress on water efficiency. That alone is evidence of how very important this issue is now, and will become increasingly, as stress on our water resources increases.
“The work we are planning for the year ahead will take these successes and build on them. It’s an ambitious and innovative programme and I am grateful to colleagues on the Group for the leadership they are showing in taking it forward.”
The overarching aim of the Group is to reduce the current level of per capita consumption in households. Members have agreed to work together on a package of measures, each covering different aspects of water efficiency. They have identified a number of key areas for future work, including:
- the development of proposals for mandatory water efficiency targets for each company from 2010;
- creating an evidence base that will help water companies make appropriate investment decisions;
- completing and reviewing twenty large scale water efficiency projects;
- further work on standards for rainwater harvesting, grey water, and raw water re-use;
- options for improving water efficiency in existing buildings; and
- a review of water efficiency measures in the industrial and commercial sector.
Since October 2005, when the Water Saving Group was formed under the Chairmanship of then-Environment Minister Elliot Morley, they have driven progress in a number of areas:
- Ofwat has introduced voluntary water efficiency targets for water companies, which will apply in 2008/09 and 2009/10;
- Ofwat has also proposed to remove disincentives to water efficiency schemes through a change in the way it sets price limits;
- The Environment Agency has published a methodology for identifying water stressed areas in England;
- The Government has introduced regulations allowing water companies in areas of serious water stress to consider compulsory water metering as part of their water resource management plans;
- The outputs from 20 large scale water efficiency projects will be used by companies as they prepare business plans for Ofwat’s Price Review for 2010-2015. They will also add to the evidence base which is being developed and expanded by Waterwise;
- As part of its work to highlight and encourage best practice by water companies on providing advice and support for consumers, Ofwat has published a ‘good practice’ register of water efficiency projects;
- Valuable in-depth research has been completed by the Consumer Council for Water to help better understand customers’ attitudes to water use, and their views on willingness to play a part in using water wisely;
- As part of the Housing Green Paper, Defra and CLG committed to a number of measures to improve water efficiency in new homes, including changes to the Building Regulations and setting performance standards for key fittings like toilets, taps and showers; and
- Options for a product labelling scheme are being examined. This work has been assisted by the launch by the Bathroom Manufacturers Association of their industry-led voluntary labelling scheme for water efficient products, which was welcomed by the Group.
Dame Yve Buckland, Chair of the Consumer Council for Water, said: “Improving water efficiency is one of the most important challenges facing the water industry moving forward. The work of the WSG has to be grounded in the expectations and needs of those who use water. Customers need to be engaged from the outset and reassured that they will get a safe and reliable supply of water in the long term. We need to ensure they do their bit to save water and understand why they need to.”
Pamela Taylor, Chief Executive of Water UK, said: "Water efficiency is a collective responsibility and we're delighted that all members of the Water Saving Group have recognised the need to work together to tackle an issue that is vitally important for society and our environment."
Barbara Young, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency said: "We welcome the Minister's announcement that the group will continue for another year as there is still much work to do. We are pleased that the Group has supported the need for households in water stressed areas to be metered. We hope that water companies will now make rapid progress on metering. We have also developed proposals for water efficiency targets to help ensure that we make better use of a scarce resource."
Jacob Tompkins, Director of Waterwise, said: “The water saving group is an excellent example of policy groups working together. We have seen many examples of water efficiency progress over the last two years but there is much more to do. It is only by everybody working together that we can ensure a sustainable water supply for the future.”
Ofwat Chief Executive Regina Finn said: "We welcome the group's work and its emphasis on practical proposals to help use water more efficiently. It is vital that each water company considers the relative merits of every option to balance its supply and demand."
