BARRIERS AND DRIVERS TO WATER CONSERVATION AND RECYCLING

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BARRIERS AND DRIVERS TO WATER CONSERVATION AND
RECYCLING
Compiled by Prof. Susan Roaf and Suchita
Ghosh Oxford Brookes University
With the aid of Paul Shaffer, Paul Jeffrey, Sue
Craddock, Christopher Tattersall and Nick Grant
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ARCHITECTS, DEVELOPERS AND PLANNERS
Rise in environmental awareness. Customers
willing to pay a 'green premium'.   Water
conservation increasingly seen as part of 'green
credentials'.   Desire for 'innovation', eg. new
products, regardless whether they have been tried
/ tested.   Intelligent homes trendy   Flood
Control may require water conservation and
storage strategies for building eg. on flood
plains.   Urban flooding requires water retention
strategies that may involve attractive 'green
building elements' such as green roofs that
appeal to designers. They also have other
environmental selling features in that they can
help to enhance local climate and absorbing the
CO2 over cities thereby reducing greenhouse
effect. (NB. Green roofs not desirable for water
conservation recycling, v. poor water
quality).   Security of supply issues may
influence developers to include additional water
sources for a) the case of a break down of
central system if the supply infrastructure
deteriorates or b) if the 90 year drought becomes
a 3 year drought and garden water etc. are
restricted.   Good examples such as Gusto in
Nottingham
Lack of knowledge and information on the
subject.   Lack of knowledge of what
'Sustainability' entails.   Cost of construction
and maintenance. Not the cheap option.   Concerns
about public health - water quality standard for
grey water/rain water i.e. disinfecting.   Previou
s bad experiences, e.g. Linacre College
advertised in the press   Lack of common ground
on which engineers, planners and architects can
discuss water systems.   Cheap mains water   Lack
of sense of ownership of the resource   Lack of
easily understood benchmarks   Lack of
legislation for developers to install water
efficient fittings
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Related bodies reactive rather than proactive in
designing curricula and research
projects.   Relative lack of advanced skills and
knowledge in the areas of environmental
performance   Lack of consistency in what
constitutes Best Practice.   Lack of perception
of need.   Lack of co-ordination in what is
taught in schools of architecture, planning and
engineers removing 'common ground for
understanding'.   Competitive practices - lack of
'sharing' of information between water companies
and research bodies   Water saving is a poor
relation in the family of environmental sciences
with a low profile   Cheap mains water   Bad
experiences with research systems ie. Black
toilet bowls and smelly systems not attractive to
most.
Money can be earned by exploiting these bodies as
effective conduits for knowledge transfer between
regions and countries and continents   New
emphasis on water eg. from climate change issues,
will stimulate the demand for new products that
must be researched leading to new
money   Opportunity to research or work in
partnership with new organisations, eg.
industrial partners, and release new money for
research and curriculum development.   Trickle
down of Governments Sustainable Development
Strategy.   Regulatory regime supporting demand
management and related teaching and
research   Getting own house in order - eg. the
'Green Campus Movement' enabling an effective
'Learning by Doing' approach.     The
Professions, eg. Architects, are now requiring
that 'Sustainability' is included in teaching
modules and courses and so steps must be made to
ensure that water issues are included here.
TEACHING AND RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS
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Government has lost control of the policy
levers.   Political acceptability of
legislation.   Cautious approach adopted by
companies overseeing water efficiency     Correct
information needed to base legislation on
Research cycle out of synchronisation with
legislation.   No consensus on cost and impact
of water saving options.       Regulations
introduced to prevent bad practice, not promote
good practice.   Obtaining information
Government introduce legislation., i.e. Water
Resources Act, Environment Act, and Water Bill,
Ofwat and the Environment Agency are responsible
for enforcing the legislation eg. DWI (Drinking
Water Inspectorate)   Commitment to sustainable
development   Minimising environmental impact of
water abstraction   Balancing stakeholder
requirements, including environment and
customers   Concerns about climate
change   Agenda for Action 1996 Twin Track
Approach     Ofwat encourage water companies to
use water efficiently to manage the water supply
demand balance at least cost.   Environment
Agency statutory body with a duty to secure the
proper use of water resources in England and
Wales.   Water supply regulations 1999   Minimise
utility bills e.g. Watermark
REGULATORS/ GOVERNMENT
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Provision of information.   Life of machine
  Fear of unknown   Availability
1999 Water Supply Regulations   Ecolabel
Scheme   Customer demand, marketing
MANUFACTURERS (White good manufacturers and
sanitary ware manufacturers)
Making money   Rise in environmental
awareness   Governments Sustainable Development
Strategy   Building Capacity- skills, knowledge
and understanding of the issues to earn revenue.
PRIVATE CONSULTANTS
Water saving is a poor relation of energy
efficiency and has less earning potential
  Economics and paybacks, poorly
understood   Lack of standards for greywater
recycling.
Reactive consumers   Lack of information   Disenfr
anchisement from water company   Lack of water
Standards- high perception of risk   Perception
of low value due to the abundance of
water   Apathy laziness
Saving money   Environmental awareness   Changing
perception of the value of water   Conservation
is becoming trendy
CUSTOMERS / CONSUMERS
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WATER COMPANIES
Rising demand and adoption of Twin Track
options.   Increasingly stringent legislation to
control water sales by Privatised Companies, eg.
Water supply regulations 1999 and 2002.   Duty to
promote water conservation to customers, e.g.
Environment Act 1995, Ofwat MD118   Metering in
industrial and commercial properties and in new
build residential provide financial incentive to
save water.   Limiting of ground and river water
abstraction licence limiting total amount of
water available. Abstractors need to ensure they
make efficient use of water.   Public opinion
against building new dams.   Governments
Sustainable Development Strategy, eg. Water
Summit 10 point plan 1997.   Need to get own
house in order. Eg. Leak reduction, rebuilding
of supply infrastructure etc. results in water
conservation.   Competition Act 1998 allows
water companies to operate outside traditional
boundaries. If conservation undertaken widely,
could provide more water to sell to new
customers.   Impact of Climate Change, hotter
summers, greater demand.
Need to drive down costs, low cost of
water   Lack of flexible cost tariffs     Trade
off between water conservation and returns to
share holders. Economics   Impacts of water
conservation still need to be quantified.   Increa
sing population, affluence and ownership of water
using appliances.   Water conservation requires
partnerships with customers which can be time
intensive and costly to set up   Utilities see
that it does not ensure for them the security of
supply the same way developing a new resource
would.
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LOCAL AUTHORITIES
Water recycling   Prevent scarcity of water
resources   Enrich low water flows in rivers
  Prevent flooding   Rainwater conservation and
planning   Reduce overflows from combined
sewers   Save costs for storm water detention
tanks - not costs borne by government   Save
costs for building storm water or combined sewers
- not costs borne by government   To have
additional water source for the case of a break
down of central system   To avoid long distance
supply systems for drinking water   Save
detergents from the laundry and chemicals for
water treatment to make water visible
Cost involved in storage tanks and maintenance
water quality standard for grey water/rain water
i.e. disinfecting       Additional disinfection
needed for drinking water       Lack of water
quality standard for grey water/rain water