How Can Businesses Become More Efficient With Water Usage?

Over the past few years, water has become a critical issue, in terms of water quality, access and cost, with businesses often searching for ways to lower their water bills.

It is a complex problem with a complex mix of solutions, and one major aspect of these solutions, according to the Environmental Agency, is water efficiency, something that it has warned must become a national priority in a recent press release.

Whilst the average daily water use per person and average abstraction of water per day are falling, the EA has warned that, despite much rainier weather, much of the UK is still dealing with droughts, and water use is not lowering at a fast enough rate to be sustainable.

To find out why, it is important to examine water efficiency, its causes, the responsibilities of water companies and what businesses can do to audit and lower their usage as much as possible.

What Is Water Efficiency?

At once a simple yet multifaceted concept, water efficiency is about reducing wasted and misused water by maximising its use and reuse for a multitude of different purposes.

Whilst there is a massive supply of water, supplies of potable water, or water that is safe for human consumption, are much more fragile, and as existing supplies are taken out of the groundwater and freshwater sources, the risks of water scarcity and droughts increase.

According to the EA, several areas of the UK, including Yorkshire, much of the Midlands and parts of Kent, are dealing with levels of groundwater, reservoir and river water that are lower than expected, and a drought will only end once this is replenished, a process that can take years.

What Are The Causes Of Unsustainable Water Use?

It is important not to be reductive when exploring the role individuals, businesses, agriculture and water companies have to play in improving water efficiency, as the causes of the issue cannot simply be blamed on individual excess and the solution similarly reduced to taking showers instead of baths.

In England, the average person uses 136.5 litres of water per day, including the water used for drinking, cooking, washing, personal hygiene, laundry and any other personal purpose, but much like carbon footprints, the causes of water scarcity are often systemic and institutional.

A major issue is leakages in pipes, one of several instances in which water companies have

made the news this year. The average percentage of water lost is nearly a fifth (19 per cent), with the struggling Thames Water the worst offender at 22 per cent.

Similarly, businesses are increasingly reliant on data centres, the biggest of which can have the water consumption levels of up to 50,000 people.

Artificial Intelligence businesses are particularly harmful in this context; each prompt uses a pint of water, and billions of these are used every single day, not all of which is taken from reclaimed or non-potable sources.

These are issues not only in their own right, but in their optics and how they encourage individual changes in behaviour. If businesses are not fulfilling their ethical responsibilities to their local communities, those same communities will not feel incentivised to do the same.

This is true to an even greater degree with water companies, the reputation of which has perhaps never been lower due to what the EA described as systemic underperformance and failure on the part of water companies.

What Can Businesses Do About Their Water Usage?

Businesses, both directly involved with the water sector and those that heavily use water, will have to lead the vanguard on improving water quality, not only as the greatest contributor to water scarcity, but also because they will be leading by example.

One of the best places for any business to start is to get in touch with a water consultant and arrange for a water audit of your water usage within your business premises and across as much of your overall supply chain as is feasible.

This can include encouraging employees to prioritise using less water, installing toilets with efficient flushing systems that use less water, and examining various processes and exploring whether water can be reduced.

This will not only reduce water usage and help the environment, but it will also lower your operating costs significantly.

This work will go alongside the extensive efforts undertaken by water companies alongside the UK government to repair, replace and safeguard the water supply and treatment system, ensuring that it is fit for purpose and reducing the wasteful systemic habits of the last decade and more.