Westminster smashes its target to reduce water consumption…

by Megan Darby

The Houses of Parliament have slashed water consumption by almost one-third in three years, it has emerged.

The estates team cut consumption by 31 per cent from 322 megalitres in 2008/09 to 223 megalitres in 2011/12, the answer to a parliamentary question from Thomas Docherty MP revealed.

The savings came from several initiatives, including efficiency improvements to the borehole-fed heating and cooling systems at Portcullis House, pipe repairs in cooling towers at the Palace of Westminster, and a campaign encouraging people to report dripping taps.

These efforts put Parliament well ahead of a target to save 25 per cent by March 2021. A spokesman said targets would be adjusted “to further challenge performance and consumption”.

Meanwhile, Docherty, an environmental select committee member, asked Scottish water retailer Business Stream to comment on the potential to further reduce ­Parliament’s water bill.

Business Stream spokeswoman Kate Bremner said the company would be happy to draw up a quote, albeit the access pricing regime in England made it “difficult to offer decent savings”.

“If they were in the Scottish regime, the type of discount they would be looking at would be 8-12 per cent,” she said.

…but minister stands by ‘weak’ domestic goal

Water minister Richard Benyon admitted to Utility Week that the government’s aspiration to reduce average demand from 150 to 130 litres per person per day by 2030 was “weak”.

He declined to take up the challenge in a recent Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) report to drive down household consumption by 30 per cent. However, he insisted: “I am going in the same direction as the ICE.”

This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 29 June 2012.

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