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The report, entitled Sustainable Solutions: Raising the water mark, was compiled by the Westminster Sustainable Business Forum, a coalition of leading UK businesses, government agencies, parliamentarians and organisations working to promote effective sustainability policy in the UK. It lays out advice on a variety of water issues including the role of management incentives in guaranteeing water security and the removal of red tape around water metering roll-out.
The report, formally unveiled in Parliament on Monday November 12th, also calls for changes in the regulation and ownership of dirty water treatment, setting tougher leakage targets, and the removal of barriers to entry to the industry, especially for innovative SMEs.
Around 30% of leaked water is estimated to arise from customer-owned water supply pipes yet many customers are unaware of their responsibility to keep the supply pipe in good order and to fix leaks.
An initial cost benefit analysis conducted by UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR) on water company adoption of supply pipes, concluded that it would cost an additional £4 per property per year which would be offset by the fact that the property owner would no longer need to pay for any repairs, maintenance or insurance for their water supply pipe (estimated at around £35 per property per year).
The benefits of water company adoption include, allowing the economic level of leakage calculations to include supply pipe replacement as a demand-side intervention; the development of supply pipe serviceability criteria; improved opportunities for innovation and operational performance and improved customer relations in the longer term. (Position statement)
Notes: The European Commission will publish in November this year a "Blueprint to safeguard Europe´s water resources as the EU policy response to current and future water challenges and ways to improve EU´s water resources efficiency.
Details...