Waterwise has drafted a new paper, with input from the UK Water Efficiency Strategy Steering Group, highlighting the role that water efficiency can play in reducing carbon emissions over the next two decades.

Around 6% of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions are from household water supply and use. This equates to over 2.6 kg CO2e per home per day.  Approximately 90% of these water-related emissions are from how we use water in the home – the other 10% are operational emissions from water companies supplying water and removing and treating wastewater.  The water sector has recently committed to reaching Net Zero by 2030 for its own emissions but this paper highlights how modest reductions in household water use of 5-6% could deliver annual emissions savings of around 1.3 MtCO2e.  This is a bigger saving than was actually achieved in the whole UK housing sector in 2017-18 or in 2018-19. A 10-12% reduction in household water use could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a similar amount to the total operational emissions of the whole UK water sector (circa 2.4 MtCO2e).

There’s also a great video highlighting five things everyone should know about water.

Read more here.