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| JUNE 2021 | UTILITY WEEK
Customers
Analysis
Putting water neutrality
back on the agenda
The concept of water neutrality was in vogue a decade ago
but has since fallen off the radar. Waterwise
is working to re-focus the conversation on
minimising the water demand
of new-build homes. Ruth
Williams reports.
C
onversations around water neutrality
for new housing stock stalled in recent
years, but Waterwise has kickstarted
the debate again with a series of recom-
mendations for policymakers and housing
developers.
The Environment Agency recently pro-
posed reclassifying another seven areas
of England as water-stressed, meaning 14
regions would be designated as "seriously"
water-stressed. Waterwise is calling for hous-
ing developments in such areas to be built in
as efficient a way as possible to minimise the
impact on already stretched resources.
"We need to show national leadership on
water efficiency and lay out a clear vision for
citizens. We are sleep walking into a water
crisis and the Environment Agency is looking
at re-zoning areas of water stress to reflect
this serious situation, which looks like nearly
the whole of England will qualify," says Ben
Earl, director of sustainability and water
efficiency at non-governmental organisation
Skewb, on the urgency of the situation.
"We've got this slow car crash com-
ing towards us of water shortages, which
a whole host of different individuals and
organisations keep warning about. However,
we are still awaiting the results of the 2019
water efficiency consultation from govern-
ment, which we are all hoping will clearly
lay out the policies needed to take effective
action."
Waterwise created a report with four key
proposals for planning and policymakers,
as well as developers, to collaborate and
