SAVE OUR WATER!
With drier summers, water shortages could be a reality for more of us in the near future. But by making a few simple changes at home, we could all help buck the trend. Here’s how…
boost the supply of clean water to homes and businesses by capturing and storing more of it in reservoirs and increasing the amount of salt water that can be converted to fresh at desalination plants. It has also said that more water needs to transferred around the UK to the areas that need it most – currently only 4% of the UK’S water is moved between water companies*. Reducing leakage will also play a key role in preventing water scarcity. This is not a new problem. The amount of water lost from the public water supply peaked in the mid-1990s, when just over 5bn litres was being wasted through leaks every day**. Since then, this figure has fallen to just over 3bn litres, but that still means one-fifth of the total clean water that’s put into the public supply*** is lost, and progress in reducing leakage has stalled in recent years. Now, Ofwat has set
water companies the target of cutting water lost to leaks by 16% by 2025.
WHAT CAN WE DO AT HOME?
The Consumer Council for Water (CCW) estimates that just under a quarter of all leaks occur in private supply pipes†. These are the pipes that connect our homes to the public water supply, and maintaining them is the responsibility of the homeowner, or landlord if a property is rented.
If your home has a water meter (around half of UK homes do), the first you may know about a leak is a higher-than-usual water bill. To check for a leak, switch off all the taps in your home and any appliances that use water, then take a water meter reading, providing you can access your water meter safely. Then, take another reading after 30 minutes – if the red numbers on your meter have changed, you probably have a leak. If your water meter is at the boundary of your property, repeat this with the internal stop tap turned off. If the numbers continue to change, the leak is likely to be in the supply pipe. Contact your water supplier, as it may repair a supply pipe free of charge or at a subsidised rate if this is the first time you’ve reported a leak. It’s also worth asking if it will adjust your bill to take account of the amount of water that’s been lost. If it won’t help with the repair itself, search for an accredited plumber via Watersafe (watersafe.org.uk).
HOME REMEDIES
In addition to fixing leaking pipes in our homes, there’s plenty we can be doing to reduce the 140 litres of water each of us in the UK uses every day. But the CCW says that water companies need to lead the way when it comes to conserving water. ‘Consumers are likely to be less motivated to save water if they perceive that their water company is not pulling its weight by tackling leakage,’ says the CCW’S Karen Gibbs. ‘It remains to be seen whether companies are able to deliver on the more demanding leakage reduction targets over the next five years.’
Here are four tips that will help you conserve water, saving money on your water bill along the way.
DO place a clean washing-up bowl in the sink to catch the excess as you wait for water from the hot tap to reach the right temperature. Use it for cleaning or pre-soaking laundry, or to water plants once it’s completely cool. A running tap pumps out between six and 12 litres of water every minute, so the water savings will quickly add up. DON’T wait for the tap to run cold each time you fill a glass with water. This wastes more than 10 litres of water a day, according to water efficiency organisation Waterwise. Keep a bottle of tap water in the fridge instead. DON’T use the large flush option on your dual-flush loo unnecessarily. Simply flushing the toilet accounts for a quarter of the water we use at home. Fitting a water displacement device in the cistern of older toilets can also help reduce water use. Ask your water supplier if it will supply and fit one for free.
DO regularly check washing machine and dishwasher hoses for leaks and get them fixed quickly. The same applies to leaky taps. A single dripping tap can waste up to nine litres of water a day, according to Thames Water.