Scottish Water calls for money-saving efficiency
Using the Scottish Government’s climate week, Scottish Water is taking the opportunity to call on more people to reduce their daily water usage.
It has been confirmed that around 80 million litres of water have been saved across Scotland in the past year after water efficiency advice and devices were given to thousands of households.
The reduction in water consumption is enough to fill 32 Olympic-size swimming pools or 53 million kettles.
Scottish Water has been working in partnership with the Energy Saving Trust and Home Energy Scotland, promoting water efficiency to help households save water, energy and money and the latest figures show it is working.
This summer, Home Energy Scotland has been at events throughout the country giving communities water efficiency advice and distributing water saving devices to 30,000 households so far.
As a result of these measures it is estimated that the saving of 80 million litres of water could equate to a carbon footprint reduction of about 240 tonnes of C02 equivalent – enough to heat almost 90 houses for a year.
These new figures have prompted Scottish Water to renew its call for more people to use water wisely and take simple measures, such as taking shorter showers or boiling only the water you need in a kettle.
The more people do this, the further water supplies will go and this will leave more in rivers, lochs and reservoirs and so help the environment.
Brian McCarthy, Scottish Water’s reservoirs and supply demand manager, said: ‘These new figures show that a massive amount of water has been saved by people across Scotland after we have issued great water efficiency advice and provided devices such as shower timers and tap aerators to thousands of households.
‘We would urge everyone to do what they can to reduce consumption of this precious resource and in turn help the environment and save money through reduced energy bills.’
Water use accounts for six per cent of UK carbon emissions, which is the same as the aviation industry. One per cent of this is from collecting, treating and pumping drinking water to homes.
A huge amount of energy goes into making tap water safe to drink and Scottish Water is one of the largest single users of electricity in Scotland.
The remaining five per cent is from heating water in the home, with around one fifth of household heating bills spent on heating water. By using water wisely, a family of four can save 0.7 tonnes of CO2 and more than £100 in reduced energy bills each year.
For advice on how to use water wisely visit www.scottishwater.co.uk/en/Your-Home/Water-Efficiency