Water efficiency programme a first for northern England
Posted: Friday 30th November 2007
Mouchel, working on behalf of United Utilities, has started a water efficiency project in Great Sankey, Warrington.
The project is the first domestic water efficiency programme to take place in the north of England and involves the fitting of a variety of simple water-saving devices. These include 'Save-a-Flush' cistern bags, which save a litre of water during every toilet flush, ecoBETA 'vari-flush' units, which convert single flush cisterns to dual flush cisterns using a plastic device, and low-flow showerheads, which mix the flow of water in a power shower with air.
In total the £75,000 United Utilities pilot project involves visiting 500 domestic households across three district meter areas (DMAs) in Great Sankey over a three-month period. The trial will help United Utilities to gain a better understanding of the likely costs of large-scale water-saving activities in its region and to assist with the development of a water conservation strategy for the North West.
Being the first project of its kind in the north of England is highly significant, as Mouchel technical director Brendan McAndrew explains: "Previous water efficiency studies have taken place in the South East as a direct response to regional water supply shortages – although not faced with the same issues as southern water companies, United Utilities' proactive investment is a good example of a water company placing value in its key commodity."
United Utilities project manager Ben Nadel says: "The Household Water Efficiency Audits study is important to United Utilities as it is the shape of things to come. It is becoming more and more important that water companies promote water efficiency. We have to develop our understanding of how best to encourage customers to be more water efficient as water efficiency will form a large part of the AMP5 programmes."
Waterwise director Jacob Tompkins comments: "It is excellent to see water efficiency becoming a focus in the north of England. The innovative approach used in this trial minimises cost and maximises savings. We each use 150 litres of water per person per day and this has been rising steadily by one per cent per year since 1930 – this consumption level is not sustainable in the long term. We welcome the work of United Utilities and Mouchel and encourage others to look to them. Saving water makes good economic sense and has environmental and social benefits too."
Mouchel has been leading the way with the management and delivery of domestic water efficiency projects for the past three years, working with four different water companies in the south of England. To date Mouchel has audited more than 85,000 customers and introduced efficiency savings of between 13 and 50 litres per household per day. Mouchel is currently exploring the possibility of equipping its field operatives with handheld PDA units for large-scale projects, which will provide each operative with direct access to a project database.
