By 2030, seven regions in England are on track to become severely water stressed. By 2040, this number is set to rise to 12 regions. At particular risk is the South East, which by 2050, will be required to find an extra one billion litres of water per day to keep up with demand. And, while it’s clear that the demand for water is rising in tandem with population growth, economic and population growth should not come at the expense of the environment. The question therefore remains: how do we plug the burgeoning gap in water demand? 

“There’s two ways to tackle this issue; either through supply options like reservoirs or through demand management. And, with a 5 billion litres per day gap to 2050 across the UK, regulators are saying half of this will be achieved through demand management.” Lina Nieto, Water Net Zero Manager, at Affinity Water

Water Neutrality 

Water neutrality, which involves reducing the water footprint from activities as much as  possible, is an example of demand management. Water companies and developers can, together, ensure that new developments are built as efficiently as possible, for example, by installing fittings to prevent leakage. But this is only one part of a multifaceted problem. A lot of the issues surrounding water use can be boiled down to behaviour and our perception of water. 

“Lots of water is being wasted because no one really looks at a water bill in the same way they look at an energy bill or a mobile phone bill. The challenge really comes down to the way that people perceive water.” 

Project Zero

Lina and her team recognised the behavioural element that comes into play with water usage, leveraging this in their water neutrality campaign, Project Zero. Using a combination of customer behavioural change, technology installation and offsetting, Project Zero’s goal was to bring down water consumption across three sites covering around 1,000 homes each in ‘Bidwell West’ in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire. 

“In our supply area, new properties are expected to use an extra 83.03 million litres of water a day by 2032, on top of what is already being used. By working with behavioural change specialists, we created pledges for people to commit to and found that almost 100% of people stuck to their pledge and successfully changed their behaviour in relation to water usage”. 

These pledges helped people to quantify the amount of water they use and ultimately the amount of water they could save through small, everyday changes. One example is turning the tap off while brushing your teeth, which can save 20 litres of water. And, while the project found that behaviour change alone could reduce water use by an average of 24.9 litres per household, people still need to use water. To achieve water neutrality, the project also set about offsetting water consumption in non-households like schools and businesses. 

“Water offsetting is in its infancy with different geographical approaches being trialled to achieve offsetting targets, and buildings of social value are being prioritised. This first, very localised approach, ensured that the water used by new homes and its offsetting, is linked to the same water source.”

Government attitudes

Government attitudes to the water sector have also played their part in the industry’s apparent lack of progress: “We’re ten years behind the energy sector. Water is cheap, people take it for granted and so it hasn’t had the same focus that the energy sector has. We weren’t even part of the government’s net zero roadmap, which is surprising because water is a very energy intensive industry”. 

But, with a parliamentary refresh in the shape of a new Labour government, there have been some more positive signs. A new Water (Special Measures) Bill was laid out in the King’s Speech, part of which referenced a requirement to install ‘real-time monitors at every sewage outlet, with data independently scrutinised by the water regulators’.

A smart move

As the project pushes to the next phase, it plans to move away from the time-consuming process of manual meter readings, instead choosing to install smart meters. Smart meters provide a more granular and timely view of water usage, as well as saving time and money when compared to manual readings:

“While costly, installing smart meters has proved worth the outlay, as taking manual readings is time-consuming and costs money. The data quality of smart meters is more reliable with a granular level of data, which supports the understanding of the impact of the campaign.”