It's not only utility companies that need to rethink Britain's cascades of wasted water

It seems the sign of a good, British summer is a call for a hosepipe ban – which is exactly what United Utilities are doing from 5 August. This ban will affect seven million of their customers.

They join the people of Ireland, both north and south, where a ban has been in place for weeks. Today at noon, the restrictions in Northern Ireland have finally been lifted.

The hosepipe ban quickly becomes the subject on everyone’s mouths – the UK and Ireland aren’t exactly known for drought conditions and even over the last week, there have been periods of heavy rain.

I can understand why people question why a nation that is known for its damp mizzle and never having an outdoor event without an indoor backup plan has to restrict its private water usage. It doesn’t make sense.

But then again, not much about water companies in the UK and Ireland does make sense. Outside of Northern Ireland, water systems were privatised, which would lead you to think that they’d be running efficiently.

Wrong.

Leaks are the bane of a water company’s back. Yet, from the outside, it doesn’t seem that the companies feel the need to sort them out.

Three billion litres of water are lost in England and Wales every day due to leakages. That’s no small amount. Can you imagine the response if the same percentage of leakages happened in the energy sector? What would we say if this amount of gas or electricity was wasted?

We take water for granted. We always have – and the water companies do the same. United Utilities lose the equivalent of 1.7 bathtubs (80 litres) per household each day. They’re not the biggest culprit; Thames Water leads the way with 2.2 bathtubs.

This is a significant amount, especially when the average person in the UK uses 150 litres daily.

Water companies need to be more practical in their working. Hosepipe bans are generally introduced not because of a shortage of water, but because the existing infrastructure cannot keep up with the increased demand during good weather spells.

Everyone wants to water their plants. People are hosting garden parties. Heck, if the weather is good, we’ll even bother to wash our own cars. And with all that sweating we’re doing from the gardening, I really hope we’re washing ourselves more.

Demand is up, and the infrastructure can’t keep up with treating all this water.

And here comes another issue. The water that runs through our toilets could be safely drunk from if that’s what were to choose to do. Likewise, the flowers in our garden don’t need to be hosed down with the same water we use to drink.

It’s unnecessary to treat all water flowing through the system identically. Of course, this has both financial and environmental implications. Money could be diverted elsewhere within the system and the carbon footprint would be lower.

There are options to have two separate water systems in new builds, especially within estates and built up areas. One such would be to maintain what is currently in place, but to use use rainwater harvested in underground tanks for activities such as flushing the toilet, watering plants and so on.

Actually, the government’s Code For Sustainable Homes encouraged these tanks for new builds for exactly these purposes. Designs submitted saw the potential to reduce mains water usage by half – yet this code was withdrawn in 2015.

Other nations have adopted such schemes. New Zealand has ample rainfall in most of the country and rainwater harvesting is encouraged by most councils. Here, it happens mostly in rural areas.

In fact, harvesting rainwater has become a necessity in some places. This year, the drought in Cape Town meant the government had to get creative with their water saving solutions; harvesting rainwater became key in this. The South African tourist board announced that Cape Town won’t run out of water in 2018/19, but official advice still includes harvesting rainwater.

Most water companies in the UK are for-profit; United Utilities most recently reported profit was £374m. £270m of this went to dividend pay-outs while only £149.5m was spent on infrastructure renewal.

Water companies simply need to step up, but they’re not solely at fault. We need to stop feeling so entitled to unlimited gallons of water. We need to be mindful of garden use and bathroom use. We need to think twice about putting on the dishwasher or refilling a 100-litre paddling pool.

Yet, personal responsibility aside, incentives for change are lacking.

The Met Office has stated that summers are going to be hotter due to climate change, which leads to a higher demand for water and potentially less rain – that makes the question of greater efficiency all the more urgent.

In the UK, most people pay a flat rate for water (as ever in Northern Ireland, we’re somehow exempt). This doesn’t encourage people to be mindful of their usage – so the Government needs to either step in and promote greater efficiency through regulation of homes and domestic appliances, or by changing the way we pay.

Let’s not remember 2018 in the same way the previous generation remember 1976, but let us as consumers and companies be more mindful of water use and wastage. In the same light, the Government face up to the issue, and quickly, to ensure hosepipe bans do not become as much a part of the British summer as Wimbledon or charcoal flavoured burgers.

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