Time to Act: Episode 1 (Stem the tide – let’s talk water)

I feel water is an often much overlooked topic when we talk about sustainability, particularly in the UK. I live in Manchester, and I can confirm the stereotype that it “always rains” is broadly accurate. As a result, there are rarely substantive issues with supply in the UK. My view is that this makes people more wasteful than they should be.

When I’ve berated my mum for running the tap for too long, her default response is “there is loads of water, stop getting on at me”. But even if that is true (at least in the UK currently), I’d use this one example to assume a broader lack of knowledge around how our water network works. So let’s get into that.

First off, let’s be clear. Water doesn’t fall out of the sky and miraculously find its way into our taps. It goes through various cycles of treatment (to make it clean) and often needs to be “pushed” (sometimes by gravity, other times mechanically) to get all the places it needs to go. I’m oversimplifying it and deep-water experts will roll their eyes. But stay with me.

Surprisingly enough, these processes require energy and typically chemicals (the extraction and production of these chemicals has wider ecological and environmental impacts too). If we talk emissions, then every litre is approximately 0.6grams of CO2e. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you factor in that, on average, a UK citizen consumes 142 litres per day it quickly racks up – to the tune of 31kg CO2e per person per year. For reference, it’s the equivalent of driving 70 miles in an average petrol car.

But clean water is only one side, we need to consider waste treatment. The vast majority (typically 80-90%) of water we consume will end up in the wastewater network. In simplified terms, unless it is going into vegetation, or being evaporated in cooking, it will end up in the wastewater network in some form.

Again, the process of collecting and cleaning wastewater requires energy and chemicals. From an emissions standpoint, the numbers aren’t dissimilar to the clean water side. So for simplicity, we can double the carbon emissions stated above to give our ‘total’ water footprint as ~60kg CO2e per person per year in the UK.

Overall, the emissions are not huge (on a per person basis at least), particularly when compared to other common activities such as driving, flying, or heating your home. But emissions are not the only consideration here. We need to talk ‘discharge events’ (where untreated wastewater gets into rivers and seas), localised flooding and future demand.

Let’s start with the big one. The state of UK waterways has been a key focus over the last four years with public outrage and regulatory action. The water companies are taking a beating and this is justified. Absolutely more should be being done to maintain an ageing sewer network. However, it is far easier to point fingers than look in the mirror. As explained above, water consumption broadly equals wastewater. If we consume/waste less, then the volume of water in the sewer network will be less. This would give the network more capacity to deal with rainfall (as in the UK, we have a combined storm overflow and sewer network, so rain water immediately turns into wastewater in the sewer network). Can our behavioural change solve the problem entirely? No – but I strongly believe it would reduce the extent of it.

Equally, over-filled sewers mean the rain water cannot get down drains causing localised flooding – damaging infrastructure and making travelling more treacherous. Sewers routinely running at capacity are also more likely to “blow” causing similar flooding events and damage to homes. Reducing the volume of water we waste could equally have an impact in preventing these things.

Longer term though, rising consumption and waste has more extensive impacts… leading to the need to increase the fresh water and sewer treatment capacity. As water demand grows (and our water supply is threatened by the changing climate), we will likely need new reservoirs. These require vast amounts of land to be repurposed, and extensive construction works, including to build all the connecting infrastructure. Similarly, building new sewer treatment plants requires similar sorts of activities. They also create a fairly unattractive and unpleasant smelling site. Some people are up in arms with windfarms going up nearby, how would you feel about getting a sewage treatment plant built across the road? More importantly though, the impacts on ecology, biodiversity and our climate from the construction and operation of this infrastructure would be significant.

That’s a lot on the problem and impacts, but what can we actually do? For me, the primary thing is to waste less. Let’s rattle through some key ways to do this:

1.????? Do not run the tap while brushing teeth. Honestly, I find this mind boggling. The number of people who go to brush their teeth and start running the tap, only turning it off when finished. For what purpose?! To give a nice bit of background noise? It blows my mind. It also frustrates me how often this habit is then shown in TV programmes and films – lending credence to it being ‘normal’ and ‘acceptable’. Let’s call it what it is – downright wasteful. Some taps push out 10 litres of water a minute. So, assuming you are brushing for two minutes a day, twice a day (as dentists recommend), then each person who does this is using 40 litres of water a day. This is 40 litres of consumption demand, then immediately, 40 litres of waste treatment demand. 14,600 litres a year… If this is you, please stop it. It is a really easy behavioural change which has an immediate positive impact on your pocket and the planet. ?Just briefly run the tap at the end to rinse away the residue.

2.????? Reduce time in the shower and use the shower rather than the bath. I’d be surprised if you had not seen something about limiting showering to four minutes. The reality is, most people have no idea how long they shower for. So, stick a timer on and see what it says. Then aim to get it down to as short a time as possible while still getting the job done. Perhaps get competitive with a desire to set a new record lowest time on every occasion? Or put on a song (clearly not Bohemian Rhapsody… something under 4 minutes!) and see if you can finish before it ends. For reference, showers typically deliver 6 – 12 litres per minute (though this can be upwards of 17 for a power shower). So substantive savings can be had by reducing the time spent (I should interject here and say that I appreciate that washing hair can be really time consuming for certain hair types and getting under 4 minutes is likely impossible. Thinking about other ways to reduce water – perhaps reducing the flow rate or frequency of hair washes – should be the focus here). Switching to a short shower instead of a bath is also significant. Baths typically use around 200 litres of water.

3.????? Fix leaks immediately. Leaky taps, toilets and such can lead to massive consumption and waste. A friend had a visit from a water company as their usage was unusually high. It turned out they had two toilets which had leaks – each of which was consuming 600 litres of water per day. 1,200 litres... Per day... No benefit. Ouch! Appreciate getting a plumber out can be expensive, but you’d likely recoup the cost quickly in reduced water bills.

4.????? Use a basin for washing up. I mean, you could also use the sink (with the plug in), although these can be quite large. What you definitely don’t want to be doing is washing up using running water. Limiting the number of times you refresh the water is obviously key too – so start with the cleanest things first. Maybe one day I’ll do a deeply exciting YouTube video of various tips to super efficient washing up… something to really look forward to!

5.????? Only run appliances when full. Half-filled washing machines and dishwashers should be avoided. Although using appliances should be encouraged. Dishwashers typically use far less water than washing up by hand.

6.????? Pick efficient appliances and use efficient settings. Dishwashers in particular will state their water consumption per-cycle. If you are in the market for a new one, find the most efficient model available (that you can afford). Some consume as little as 6 litres per cycle. Equally, running on eco and lower temperate settings can have a big impact (also on energy consumed).

7.????? Install water butts if you have a garden. These not only reduce your consumption (for watering plants), but also stop rain water hitting the wastewater network. Rain water is far better for plants than stuff out the tap too, so winning all round.

Water companies themselves have loads of other tips, as I am sure will plenty of other people. So, ask around.

That brings us to a close for this episode. Hopefully I’ve helped to raise awareness around the twin problem of consumption and waste. My plea is to think about how you use water around the home and think about how you can reduce that. Eliminating wasteful practices (like running water while brushing teeth) should be the immediate focus. Reducing consumption and waste will have a big benefit on the environment at large but is also personally beneficial – reducing water bills today and hopefully preventing future price rises (building new infrastructure is expensive and guess who is going to pay for it?).

I should stress (before I get lambasted) that clearly I don’t think this is purely a problem for us to solve as consumers. There are leaks in the water network that need patching and a myriad of other problems. I’m purely highlighting how we can play our part as we are a key component in the ecosystem. If every person could reduce consumption by even a handful of percent, the cumulative impact would be enormous.

Stay tuned for the next episode where I am going to talk about how we get around.