Defra introduces water labels but ‘misses opportunity’ on building standards

The Department for Environment, Food and Agriculture (Defra) has announced measures to support water efficiency in homes including a mandatory water label on domestic and business products.

However, the department chose to add only optional standards for new-build homes of 110 litres per person per day.

The announcement coincides with the Environment Agency’s decision to re-classify seven regions of England as seriously water stressed, which means more than half of the country must now evaluate compulsory metering alongside other options through water resource management plans (WRMPs).

The long-awaited announcement from Defra follows a 2019 consultation on measures to reduce personal water consumption.

The water efficiency label will inform customers at the point of purchase about the efficiency of a product to cut water consumption “in a way that minimises the impact on customers”.

Defra said it would consider the potential to achieve energy savings, as well as further water savings, and explore how these can be achieved in a way that minimises the impact on consumers.

Local authorities will be “encouraged” to adopt optional minimum building standards of 110 litres of water per person daily in new builds in water stressed areas. From 2022 a roadmap will be developed for greater water efficiency in new builds including exploring revising building regulations.

Water UK said this approach missed an important opportunity. Director of policy Stuart Colville said future demands can only be met through reduction in home usage and welcomed the introduction of labels: “However, by introducing labels in isolation the government have missed an important opportunity. Labels need to be coupled with tighter building regulations to ensure new homes are water efficient, as well as basic minimum standards for appliances to stop them flushing precious supplies down the drain. Those additional changes are the minimum needed to have the impact we need on unnecessary water use; otherwise, we will see continued risks for customers and hard-pressed rivers.”

Other measures include water companies being required to develop plans to address leakage on customers’ pipes.

Defra said metering programmes must be justified by water companies and receive customer support. The government supports and expects companies to meet the self-imposed target of reducing leakage by 50 per cent by 2050.

George Eustice, secretary of state, said this would “strike the right balance between the need to protect water supplies and importance of water companies reducing leakage before expanding the use of water meters.”

Waterwise welcomed the introduction of mandatory water labelling as a cost effective measure to deliver real water savings. However, Nathan Richardson, head of strategy and policy, said: “We do feel the government needs to be more ambitious in terms of ensuring that new developments and existing buildings are water efficient and so we welcome the commitment by government to publish a roadmap in 2022 setting out what more it, and others, will do to achieve this, including to accommodate adoption of water-saving technologies like rainwater harvesting and water reuse.”

Following a consultation earlier this year the EA added Cambridge, Portsmouth, South Staffordshire, Severn Trent – excluding Chester zone, Veolia, Wessex, Bournemouth and the Isles of Scilly to areas of serious water stressed.

Affinity, Anglian, Essex and Suffolk, SES, South East, Southern and Thames have been classified as seriously stressed since 2013 and remain so.

Environment minister Rebecca Pow said: “We must all work harder to tackle the pressures on our water resources by understanding and challenging ourselves on how much water we need to use in our daily lives. While I have been clear that water companies must up their game and take urgent action in reducing leakage, this new package of measures will help us all to use less water.”