Increased consumption could be ‘tipping point’ for water capacity

Increased water demand due to coronavirus could be the “tipping point” for water-stressed parts of the UK if lockdown is extended into the summer, one expert has argued.

Barry Millar, operations director at Waterscan, analysed the impact on per capita consumption (PCC) of increased hand-washing, as advised by Public Health England.

In the home around 68 per cent of water consumption – or up to 96 litres per person per day (lppd) – is in the bathroom, with handwashing accounting for up to 10 litres of this under normal conditions, Millar explained.

In a scenario where each person washes their hands for the prescribed 20 seconds, roughly ten times each day, he estimated a net difference of around 10 lppd. Scaled up to a population of 60 million could mean demand increases by 600 Megalitres per day (Mpd).

“Now, whilst that is not an insignificant amount of water, neither is it catastrophic: it amounts to a little over a 0.5 per cent increase on national consumption,” Millar said.

He added that much of the increase would likely be offset in domestic settings where sanitation would lessen as external exposure decreases. A reduction in economic output would further alleviate the impact in the short term.

He said the current increase may not be cause for concern but should the lockdown extend through or beyond the summer, when demand can spike up to 25 per cent in some parts of the country, the situation could be more difficult.

“It might well even be the tipping point for some water companies in water-stressed areas”, said.

At present there is a supply capacity of around 15,000 Mpd in the UK, which the Environment Agency forecasted needs to increase by 4,000 Mpd to avoid risks of interruptions to water supply.

Millar argued that boosting supplies alone is not enough to secure the country’s water future and PCC must be reduced from around 141 lppd towards the target reduction of 16 per cent to 118 lppd – as proposed by EA and Defra last summer.

A recent report by the EA found the UK will need an extra 3.4 billion litres of water per day to meet future demands between 2025 and 2050 unless action is taken to drastically reduce demand.

Millar said the current situation was “a real setback in the strive to force PCC downwards to sustainable levels”.

“So, how can we balance the 20 second rule – necessary for short term public health – with the 16 per cent consumption reduction required to secure our long-term water supply stability? Millar asked. “It all comes down to making the best of a bad situation by managing assets well and monitoring consumption closely – and this goes for individuals, public sector environments and commercial premises.”

With meter reading on hold at many companies, to adhere to social distancing, Millar said it was more important than ever to keep an eye on consumption and take the opportunity to take stock of network assets that could leak or affect flow rate while premises are not being used.

“The drive towards water sustainability is just one of many corporate social responsibility priorities that will undoubtedly be put on hold in these unprecedented times and certainly, we would not advocate any move to limit handwashing to counter this impact,” Millar said. “However, there is no time like the present to use this time to plan ahead. Managing and analysing our water consumption a little more is one way that we can all play a role in mitigating the future impacts of our activities right now.”

Reducing per capita consumption has been widely recognised as a key way to ensure the UK avoids the “jaws of death” as predicted by James Bevan at the Waterwise conference last spring.

To go further, Utility Week’s Mind the Tap campaign has explored the need for a compulsory water efficiency labelling scheme as a way to make a meaningful impact on lowering household consumption.