Tapping into your love of our beautiful planet
There is a simple way that we can all help to tackle the problem of single use plastic, writes Douglas Millican
There are many things that make Scotland great – our natural environment, our food and drink, our hospitality, and our culture among them. Perhaps less obviously, but just as importantly, is our clean, clear, great-tasting drinking water.
At Scottish Water we deliver more than 1.3 billion litres of water each day to our customers’ taps, so that they can all drink, cook, wash and do many more things besides with water that is not only safe but of world-class quality.
It takes a lot of work and a great deal of investment to maintain the quality of Scotland’s excellent drinking water, now and for future generations; a job we take very seriously and always strive to do as well as we can.
Earlier this week we launched a new campaign – Your Water, Your Life – to encourage people in Scotland to carry a refillable bottle and top up from the tap. The messages underpinning the campaign are as clear as our tap water – topping up from the tap is good for your pocket, the environment and your health.
Using a refillable bottle and topping up with tap water saves you money. Scotland’s tap water isn’t free, we pay for it alongside our council tax bills and it costs on average around £1-a day. That’s less than the average household water charge in England and Wales. Scottish Water is publicly-owned and delivered on a notfor-profit basis - every penny of profit we make is invested back into the nation’s water and waste water infrastructure. So topping up from the tap is fantastic value and you’ve already paid for it.
How does topping up from the tap using a refillable bottle help the environment? I doubt I need to say too much on the issue of single use plastic; public awareness of the damage it is doing to our natural environment is already very high. Sir David Attenborough opened our eyes to the issue in Blue Planet II, and we have already seen in various campaigns and initiatives underway that there is a strong will to tackle the problem. Our campaign is our contribution to that effort.
Just a short time ago, the concept of bringing your own plastic bag to the supermarket to help reduce the impact on the environment of disposable carrier bags would have seemed odd, but consider the sea-change we have witnessed in consumer behaviour on this particular issue over just a few years. It’s the same quiet revolution we want to encourage in how people consume water.
I’m delighted that organisations including Zero Waste Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and Keep Scotland Beautiful have given us their support for our campaign to encourage Scots, and visitors to Scotland, to top up from the tap.
Research we carried out before launching our Your Water, Your Life’campaign gave us valuable insight into what Scots think about drinking water. The vast majority of people we spoke to said they were well aware that drinking water is good for you; it helps with hydration, performance and even things like dental health.
They knew it made sense health-wise to drink water but a lightbulb moment came when they were asked to consider the excellent value of tap water and the positive impact such a simple step could have on the world around them.
Our challenge is that whilst a high number of people said they drank water at home, far fewer said they drank it on the go, preferring other choices instead. The aim of the Your Water, Your Life campaign is a simple one – we want to make tap water the first choice for people everywhere.
We are looking to install a number of public space water stations where people can readily fill up their bottles. We also want businesses and other organisations to support the campaign by offering places for people to refill with water from the tap. We will be working on these aspects of our campaign over the coming weeks and months.
Aside from our new campaign, in recent weeks, Scottish Water has been speaking to customers at a series of public events, asking them to help us shape the future of the services we deliver to 2.5 million households and 153,000 businesses across the country.
More than 4,500 people spoke to us at the Ideal Home Show in Glasgow earlier this month to take part in our ongoing consultation on what our future priorities and ambitions should be. Two themes which emerged were – people feel strongly and passionately about Scotland’s water and they have equally strong views about caring for the world we live in, globally and within their own communities.
Many people also spoke to us about their love of Scottish tap water. It’s something many may take for granted but when asked about it, it’s clear that Scotland’s water evokes strong views with many focusing on the great taste – and often that it tastes better than water in other places in the UK or from other sources such as bottled water.
At Scottish Water, we have our own panel of supertasters whose heightened senses help us ensure our water is the best it can be, with samples taken from taps throughout Scotland every two minutes. It’s something we are immensely proud of.
This weekend, we are taking our consultation to the Royal Highland Show at Ingliston, outside Edinburgh, and I anticipate a similar response when people talk about Scotland’s tap water. I look forward to hearing their thoughts and gathering more views on the future of Scotland’s much-loved water.
You can find out more about the campaign at www.yourwateryourlife.co.uk