I don’t know if you had come across WaterWise before my post last month on water resources? This week the UK has been in another heatwave. Another water company has been in the media with poor handling of water supply interruptions; this time South East Water have been struggling to restore and maintain supplies to parts of East Sussex. But water companies across the country have been asking customers to “only use what they really need” as the hot weather has put massive demand on the network as demand has increased. The issue with water isn’t always a not enough water, sometimes, when we all open the taps at the same time, it becomes a water pressure issue and the water can’t move around the network.

Looking at water companies websites to get a feel for how ‘under pressure’ they feel, I came across how Southern Water intends to help customers reduce their water consumption. Southern Water worked with a community in the River Itchen catchment who had an above average per individual water consumption. Over the course of the work the local community reduced its consumption by 8% and Southern Water gave back to the community by providing free swimming lessons for pupils at the community primary school. I think this sounds like a great example of people working together to highlight where the network is under pressure and sharing ideas to reduce consumption. This not only benefited the water company and customers to secure the supply but also the environment. Over abstraction is a direct cause environmental degradation where by water in rivers and streams is so low it can no longer support the plant and animals dependant on it in nature.

The Southern Water website is direct about the industry ambition to reduce water consumption to 100 litres per day per person – Target 100. There are some great ideas for reducing water use at home and in the garden. How many could you sign up to?

Look at your own water company website for more ideas and if you can’t find what you are looking for drop them a line and ask them. We all need to reduce our water consumption to ensure we have clean water for years to come.

Take care everyone. xxx