In its State of the Nation: Water report ICE says the recent droughts have been a ‘wake up call’ for the UK but the urgency and severity of the UK’s water issues is still not properly understood. It rates our current water security as level 4 on a 1-10 scale.
To tackle the crisis ICE calls for the creation of a ‘UK Water Security Taskforce’ to deliver an integrated roadmap to water security by spring 2014, based on strategic plans from all Governments. It says that if the roadmap includes time-bound steps the UK could be out of danger - at water security level 8 or 9 - by 2025.
To achieve this ICE makes several recommendations for change including the development of new water storage facilities across the country, the removal of regulatory barriers that discourage water sharing between neighbouring companies and collaborative investment in new infrastructure, and the phased introduction of universal metering, with social tariffs to protect the poorest in society.
Chair of the ICE Water Panel Michael Norton said there is no silver bullet solution.
“We are a populous nation facing a growing gap between what we can supply and what our water users need. Sadly it’s only when hose-pipe bans are inflicted on us that the public has any glimpse of this reality. We have a valuable opportunity while water is in the forefront of the nation’s minds to impress on the public the real value of this resource and we mustn’t squander it.
“The changes ICE is recommending will require some upheaval to current regulations as well as firm decisions on how to forecast future demand, but once done we would see the effect relatively quickly.”
The report says changing pricing structures to reflect the true value of water and building smaller but more evenly distributed water storage facilities across the UK will be crucial.
Currently most households pay only a £1 per day for unlimited water, which requires a costly treatment process to make it potable. ICE says in the long-term using expensive, potable water for everything including outside activities like watering the garden is unsustainable. It calls for a 30% reduction of per capita consumption in homes (currently 150 litres per day) and discretionary tariffs that reward low usage with prices rising as usage increases.
Michael said: “Commonly thought of ‘rainy’ areas won’t be like that in the future - rainfall will be more varied, both in terms of time and location - so relying on very large reservoirs in only one or two places will no longer be effective.
”However the single biggest problem is the low value we place on water. It’s currently much undervalued and provided to most of us without limit. The UN has rightly stated that water for health and hygiene is a human right and should be affordable to the whole of society, but it makes up only a small proportion of our direct water use (less than 15%). Everything else is discretionary and should be charged as such.”
This would also encourage a public shift in attitude towards solutions that can significantly reduce domestic water such as recycling household water for non-drinking uses and rainwater harvesting for outside uses such as watering the garden. Currently potable water is so affordable to most of us that there is little public appetite for recycling water in the home, however using this ‘grey water’ to flush the toilet alone could reduce domestic water usage by a third.
ICE acknowledges Government has made some positive steps in the Water White Paper and the announcement of a draft Water Bill but urges it to deliver on these intentions without delay and within the context of a UK-wide vision.
The full report, including detailed recommendations, can be found here: www.ice.org.uk/sonwater2012
Facts and figures
Water efficiency
For more info go to www.waterwise.org.uk
- In the UK our daily per person consumption of tap water is around 150 litres
- More than half (63%) our daily water consumption at home originates from the bathroom and the toilet
- Flushing the toilet uses approximately a third of our daily water consumption
- A running tap wastes over 6 litres per minute.
- Outdoor water use accounts for around 7% of the total water use, but in the summer this can rise to over 50% of peak demand
- •Sprinklers can use as much as 1,000 litres of water per hour - more than a family of four can use in a whole day.
- If every household in the UK got a standard water butt would save about 30,000 million litres of water each summer - enough to fill Bewl Water reservoir
- A full rainwater recycling tank for a two-storey house with a 100m² roof can provide enough water for 200 toilet flushes, 30 full washing machine cycles and 12 car washes and give an annual saving of £256 for a property on a water meter.
Other facts
- The population of the UK is set to increase by approximately 9.9 million by 2035.
- By the 2050s, summer river flows may reduce by 35% in the driest parts of England and by 15%for the wetter river basin regions in Scotland
- The Environment Agency manage abstraction of water through a licensing system that regulates all abstractors taking more than 20m3/d of water. There are approximately 21,500 abstraction licences in England and Wales -see EA’s Case for Change December 2011 www.environment-agency.gov.uk
- Of all abstraction (what is licensed for) public water supply makes up 30%, with the majority going to electricity supply to industry (55%). Agricultural uses, other industrial uses and other uses make up the remaining 15%. Full break down available in the ICE report.
- Of per capita consumption (actual use, UK based only) domestic use makes up only 15%, with food (growing and transporting) accounting for 60% and industry using 15%.
- However this is only a quarter of our entire water footprint – the remaining 75% is water used in other countries to produce and transport products and services imported into the UK.
Notes
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is a leading source of professional expertise in transport, water supply and treatment, flood management, waste and energy. Established in 1818, it has over 80,000 members throughout the world including over 60,000 in the UK. ICE’s vision is to place civil engineering the heart of society, delivering sustainable development through knowledge, skills and professional expertise. The ICE has long worked with the government of the day to help it to achieve its objectives, and has worked with industry to ensure that construction and civil engineering remain major contributors to the UK economy.
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