Doing our bit

Gift pack to help people be more aware of their water use in the shower

We’re asking you to do your bit and help save water. So what are we doing to keep water flowing?

It’s about getting the balance right between meeting needs now and managing expectations about the availability of water in the future. Here’s how we’re doing that:

What we're doing

Minimising water lost through leaks – ensuring our response and repair services remain excellent.

Water is vital, so we’ve got to do everything we can to hang on to what we’ve got. We lead the industry on low leakage and we intend to keep it that way. But we don’t rely on divining sticks to find wayward water – we keep our ear to the ground, using high-tech ear-trumpets to track it down. It’s simple, but beautifully effective. Find out more about leakage.

Encouraging metering – 80% would be good

More than two-thirds of our customers already do their bit to save the planet. It’s as simple as using a water meter. If you’re on a meter, chances are you save money – £100 a year on average. Find out more about Pay-as-you-flow.

Supporting water efficiency in homes and businesses – 130 litres of daily water used per person is our vision.

We’re continually seeking new ways to help customers be more water efficient.

You can also use our calculator to see if you’re on track with our 130 target of daily litres used per day.

Looking after the little things

We’ve kicked off a ‘Bits and Bobs’ programme to give metered customers in target areas a bucket-load of gizmos for saving water: things like hosepipe guns, shower adapters, and flush reducers. Just a handful of these gadgets, supplied and installed for free by our plumbers, can save up to 40 litres a day.

We’d trialled this previously in Ipswich and fitted water saving gizmos to 1000 households. Customers told us that they were very happy with the performance of most of the items installed and that they would happily install them in future properties.

But did they save water?

We took before and after meter readings and discovered that average daily water consumption had reduced by 14.2%. That’s why we’re rolling Bits and Bobs out to other areas, why not see if you qualify.

Watch your water footprint

Where there’s water, there’s carbon – and quite a bit of it. Every bath, flush or glug has CO2 built into it, thanks to all the processes it takes to get it to the tap. So we’re campaigning to help customers see the link between the water they use, and the impact it can have on our changing climate.

Working with partners

We’ve teamed up with PECT (Peterborough Environment City Trust) to encourage householders to live in a more sustainable way. We looked at how we could help make new homes being built in Peterborough more efficient with the water being used. We installed devices like aerated shower heads to reduce the flow from showers without reducing the quality of shower and inserts for taps to provide a spray for wash hand basins.