Leakage Remains a Challenge for Suppliers

Leakage is the starting point in the conservation of drinking water supplies. In the UK leakage reduction targets are monitored by the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat). However a number of companies have failed their targets for 2009/10 including Yorkshire Water who lost on average 295 million litres a day (ML/d) over this period. The target for 2009/10 was set at 3,275 ML/d for all companies in England and Wales and this was almost achieved with reported loss for the period of 3,280 ML/d. However, the overall trend is still downwards with 8.4 and 34.2% reductions since 2005/6 and 1995/6 respectively. Thames Water still are losing the most via leakage at 670 ML/d with Severn and Trent Water close behind at 495 ML/d, but both within their targets of 685 and 500 ML/d respectively. Where targets are not meet then Ofwat can force companies to invest even more money in achieving leakage reduction. For more information about company leakage and performance in general see Ofwat’s annual report: Service and delivery – performance of the water companies in England and Wales 2009-10: Water today, water tomorrow.

One cup of coffee is equivalent to 130 litres of water

The Water Footprint Network is based at the University of Twente in the Netherlands whose mission is to promote the transition towards sustainable, fair and efficient use of fresh water resources worldwide (Link). This remarkable organization is doing this via a number of interesting initiatives including the development of a water footprint model. Water diaries are widely used to construct how water is used within the home from a supply source. However, they do not take into account how much water we consume indirectly through the manufacture and preparation of food, clothes and other goods. It takes 6,800 litres of water to make a single pair of denim jeans for example. The calculation of virtual water usage has proven to be very difficult to calculate until recently.  However, the WFN have produced an on-line calculator for this very purpose. This calculator is based on an impressive research base with a large number of their reports and refereed papers available as downloads. From our exploration of the model, it is very accurate. The calculator can be accessed via this link.