Utility Week

10 | SEPTEMBER 2022 | UTILITY WEEK Water outright denied that they are necessary, with many citing leakage and executive pay in their resistance to restrictions. Hurry tells Utility Week that leakage and what is widely described as excessive execu- tive pay continually fuel the backlash to water e ciency messaging. She believes the industry could do more to highlight what it does to drive down leaks and in resilience work for an unpredictable future. "It would be great to see the water indus- try be more open and transparent around leakage and the work it is doing," Hurry says. This would help raise awareness when customers are being asked to limit their own consumption. However, another key voice in the conver- sation, the National Infrastructure Commit- tee (NIC), is not so sure. Re€ ecting on progress made since the publication of the NIC's Preparing for a Drier Future in 2018, professor Jim Hall, commis- sioner at the committee, says the current dry weather is "a manageable risk". The NIC called for a three-pronged approach to bolster resilience as the century progresses: additional water sources; ham- mering down leakage; and demand manage- ment. Hall points to progress across all these areas. There are 17 projects in planning and development under the Regulators Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development (RAPID), which was established to address barriers that prevent large schemes from get- ting o' the ground. RAPID will make a sig- ni" cant di' erence, Hall suggests, especially on these "big ticket" developments for novel resources and transfers between regions. 'It's a lot to ask of the public' He is sceptical, however, that behaviour change will get to the point where it can have a signi" cant impact on addressing the de" cit. He says it "remains to be seen" how successful water companies will be in per- suading people to change their behaviour. He explains: "Some things are outside the direct control of the sector – such as home appliances with high water consumption and customer-side supply pipes. Thames Water alone estimates that one-third of its leakage comes from customers' pipes. Com- panies have a role in identifying and helping " x customer-side leaks, but they can't always directly address them." Previous and current publicity campaigns and awareness-raising have had a pretty small e' ect, he points out. "I'm not sur- prised by that. Householders have a lot to think about and can be confused about what the right thing to do is." He explains that although the Environ- ment Agency introducing and explaining hosepipe bans does raise awareness, relying on "well-informed and well-motivated water users" to know and do the right things is not the solution. "It's a lot to ask people to understand what is needed – energy and carbon may be more straightforward but water can depend on where you are in the country and whether there is a lot or too little available. People don't realise droughts develop over years, so it's a lot to ask of the public," Hall says. He calls for more precise information to come from metering to target behaviour- changing e' orts where they can have the greatest impact. Waterwise backs the approach that householders should not be expected to do all the heavy li— ing to save water amidst myriad other life pressures. While public campaigns have come and gone, none has stuck in a meaningful way, according to Karen Gibbs, who is heading a programme of focus at water watchdog CCW. "We need a sustained message to con- nect people's consumption in their homes to the wider water environment," Gibbs says. "We see that connection is very weak at best at the moment. Our research consistently makes the point that people struggle to make the connection between water and sewerage services and the impacts on their local river or beach." This was evidenced in recent research by CCW to gauge levels of understanding and what changes households would be willing to make. Gibbs says the research shows the general public has only a super" cial knowl- edge of how their behaviour links to the environment. "When we tried to drill down, people really struggled," she says. "People don't really understand how their tap water gets to them or what happens to it when they're " nished with it." She says this was equally true for people living in "seriously water-stressed" areas where messaging was ampli" ed. Gibbs believes that to build a case for action, the message must emphasise why saving water matters. "The default messag- ing is telling people to use less water but what's missing is the why. People need to understand how pressing the issues are – we need that buy-in from consumers." Bridging the gap Mike Keil, director of policy, explains that this is why CCW will focus on people and the environment: "Seeing the challenges we face, bridging that gap, is so important. It's something we absolutely should be doing as a consumer body." He says the work will complement rather than duplicate what is already underway in the sector. "This isn't about a water e ciency campaign or a sewer misuse campaign in isolation. We're trying to make the connec- tion in a more sustained way so people really value and understand water and understand where it goes." As a trusted voice with established rela- tionships with partners across the sector, as well as its own research and access to others, the group is well-positioned for the task. Keil explains: "We need two billion litres of extra water by 2050 and a considerable amount is expected to come from demand reduction, so this People and Environment Programme has a really sharp focus. If we don't connect people to the environment, if we don't help and motivate people to change behaviour, we're going to be in trouble." He notes that while investment in water resources and leakage reduction have been more generously funded, demand manage- ment has not. "Where is the RAPID equiva- lent for consumption or behaviour change?" Keil asks. "We're not seeing hundreds of mil- lions of pounds being spent, yet the expec- tation is it will deliver a massive reduction in demand. Where is the credible plan that underpins that expectation?" While the CCW team do not anticipate "cracking it" with the People and Environ- ment Programme, they believe it can be a catalyst. "We will make noise about this because we can't sit back so we need to do far more in this area, it'll snowball because it needs to," says Keil. Ruth Williams, water correspondent continued from p8 Analysis "It would be great to see the water industry be more open and transparent around leakage and the work it is doing." Stephanie Hurry, head of e ciency engagement, Waterwise and customer-side supply pipes. Thames "It would be great to see the water industry be more open and transparent around leakage and the work it is doing." Stephanie Hurry

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