Thames manager calls for overhaul of ‘problematic’ consumption metric

Thames Water’s demand reduction manager has called for a rethink of metrics and targets used to drive down water consumption across the country.

Andrew Tucker labelled the per capita consumption (PCC) metric used to measure household water usage as “extremely problematic”.

Specifically, Tucker took issue with the PCC metric being used to set a company’s performance targets.

Likewise, Tucker suggested that measures for cutting business consumption also require re-examination as they currently incentivise companies to reject new business connections to their networks for fear of failing to hit their consumption reduction targets.

The national 20% reduction by 2030 target is measured as the amount of water that is pumped into supply by water companies. As a nation, Tucker said the demand reduction metrics are not appropriate because they are mass balance metrics that do not account for regional variations.

Last year, the majority of water companies admitted that they are likely to miss targets set at PR19 to reduce water consumption levels.

Affinity, Bristol, Hafren Dyfrdwy, Northumbrian, Portsmouth, Severn Trent, South Staffs, Southern, Welsh, Wessex and Yorkshire all announced that they are expecting to miss the PR19 PCC targets, and in some cases an increase in consumption is forecast by the end of AMP7.

Official figures on the Discover Water portal paint an even worse picture with no companies meeting their 2022/23 reduction targets and only South West and Bournemouth reporting a reduction in consumption during the past three years.

Figures for Thames show that the company’s consumption has remained stable over the past three years, with all other water companies reporting an increase in consumption (see table below).

Tucker said too much emphasis has been placed on water companies to take action to reduce domestic and business consumer water demand.

He noted that demand comes from numerous industries and household users, but the responsibility of cutting the use was focused on water wholesalers: “No one else has a target, no one has incentives to do their part, and that absolutely has to change.”

This could be done, he suggested, in a similar way that energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions has become recognised as a shared responsibility.

“We absolutely need to develop that pathway for water, it’s going to need everybody to play a role; it’s going to need new and alternative water supplies,” Tucker said. “Water efficiency needs to become core business in the same way that CO2 reduction and energy efficiency have become in every sector – we need to mimic that.”

He added: “If businesses have to demonstrate not only CO2 reduction credentials but also water efficiency credentials, that could become quite a driver.”

Tucker added that PR24 determinations must enable smart metering and sufficient investment in water efficiency for both domestic and non-household users to help reach national targets.

Changes need to be implemented at pace, and Tucker stressed the “absolutely critical” importance of PR24 final determinations to the national agenda.

“The entire pathway of achieving a household and non-household demand reduction agenda is going to be reliant on what comes out of those determinations,” he said.

Like others participating in the annual Waterwise Conference, Tucker emphasised the urgency for government to introduce the mandatory water efficiency label as the “only single thing that will drive the improvement of performance in every single  house and business going forward”.