Saving water with metering and water efficient products

(08/12/2006)

The 60 million people in the UK use a staggering nine thousand six hundred million litres of drinking water each day for domestic use. As the climate changes and we enjoy drier winters and hotter summers, supplies will become scarcer and there simply won’t be enough water in parts of the country to sustain current levels of supply. This topic is here to stay so the Bathroom Industry needs to listen and take appropriate action.

Recent reports from retailers, however, claim some consumers remain apathetic towards water efficient bathrooms and instead they want bigger, better and more powerful products. However, whilst it’s the Industry’s duty to deliver the experience consumers want, with water conservation such an important issue where’s the common ground?

Most stakeholders would no doubt agree that there has to be a collective effort, and this was certainly a message delivered throughout the BMA’s Inaugural Conference ‘Precious Water – Water Pressures’ held in October.

What would make consumers favour water efficient products? Would increased availability of more water efficient products encourage consumers to buy them? Perhaps mandatory water metering is the way forward. How about increased usage of grey water for the garden and flushing, which would reduce the burden on treated drinkable water? Repairing leakages would save water. Each of this has potential, but only if we educate first.

The Water Saving Group believes metering will save water and this week the Government has taken some decisive action to tackle the issue. On 20 November Environment Minister Ian Pearson, who also chairs the group, announced a consultation on metering for areas affected by serious water stress, which will be identified by the Environment Agency.

Water metering in the UK stands at around 28 per cent, and is growing by two per cent a year on a voluntary basis. Defra statistics show that water savings made from metering are around 10 per cent for a typical household.

Pearson said the consultation will take place next year and aims to make water companies in seriously affected areas consider mandatory metering, but it would not propose compulsory metering on a national basis and nor did he see metering as an alternative to a tough approach on reducing leakage.

“Of course, metering is not a solution in itself, and in areas where water is in short supply water companies need to use the full range of measures including tackling leakage, encouraging water efficiency, and bringing on new supplies, and we must take into account any impacts on customers’ bills,” says Pearson.

After consultation, each water company will decide whether to include a programme for introducing compulsory water metering in its final 25-year plan. However, if the case for metering isn’t strong enough Ministers may direct the removal of metering proposals from the final plan, so there are no guarantees, but it’s a step forward in a lengthy process.

Other European governments are taking a different approach. The Irish Government believes dual flush toilets are the solution. From 2008, they will become compulsory in all new builds and existing buildings where WCs are being replaced. The initiative will save water companies an estimated €700,000 per annum.

Ireland’s Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government believes dual flush toilets will reduce treated water consumption by approximately 27 per cent, or at least 700 million litres of drinking water every year. Could this idea take off in the UK?

With the introduction of the Home Information Packs on 1 June 2007, energy and water conservation is a pressing issue, which will also feature high on political parties’ agendas at the next General Elections. Various ideas are already floating around such as incentives making it easy for home owners to release equity to make their properties more energy efficient and a reduction of VAT on home improvement products. The reduction already applies to 17 European countries and the Isle of Man until 2010.

Lord Brooke President of the National Home Improvement Council (NHIC) said at the Council’s Annual Awards on 23 November that the UK must embrace an additional range of housing priorities that are crucial for our planet’s survival, because homes produce a third of the national carbon dioxide emissions.

“Despite the NHIC’s endeavours and those of like-minded organisations, the Government’s approach to the private sector problem has so far been limited with measures only targeted at ‘the most vulnerable’ households,” says Brooke.

There’s no doubt that the market for water efficient bathrooms could certainly be a lucrative one, but we have to begin creating demand through effective education and we must champion the cause. We need to start at the beginning of the supply chain with designers and manufacturers and filter it down to distributors, retailers and installers.

The BMA has developed the WaterHog website to aid in the educating process and help identify bathroom products that use water efficiently to bring optimum results. WaterHog includes hints, tips and educational fact sheets for all ages, together with a product selector and useful links.

Related categories:  Commercial and offices applications   Industrial applications   Legislation and regulations   Residential applications   Sanitaryware   Toilets   Water efficiency