Much of UK water infrastructure ‘not fit for the future’, says BSI
The national standards body, the British Standards Institution (BSI), and charity Waterwise have ranked the UK as being at ‘medium risk’ of depleting its freshwater resources in their annual report on water scarcity.
The researchers ranked the UK at higher water scarcity risk than other European countries included in the report – France, Germany and the Netherlands.
The researchers said the UK has one of the lowest levels of renewable water resources available per person in Europe – defined as the maximum theoretical yearly amount of water available for a country at a given moment per person. This, coupled with a relatively low price of water and high levels of personal consumption and of leakage, leads to a relatively high risk index, the report said.
The UK was ranked as being at lower risk of water scarcity than China, India, Japan and the US. However, where most of those countries saw some change since the 2023 BSI and Waterwise index was published, the UK’s overall water scarcity risk score was unchanged.
Ghinwa Chammas, group director of sustainability at BSI, said: “The UK’s slow progress on addressing water insecurity risks constraining the country’s growth, as freshwater is a finite resource and the research shows that much of our water infrastructure is not currently fit for the future.
“Just as with the climate crisis, we need to invest in future-ready infrastructure and educate consumers to make sensible choices where they can.”
Chammas highlighted that the costs associated with improving water security now are “nothing” compared to potential future costs to households and businesses if the UK runs out of water.
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In last year’s report, the UK was defined as an “outlier” in its study of seven high-water-use countries in terms of freshwater abstraction for public water supplies.
It found that, while most countries withdraw less than 30% of water from the environment for public water supply, through means such as abstraction, the UK withdrew around 74% for this purpose – with a smaller proportion for agriculture and industry.
Nicci Russell, chief executive of Waterwise, said that the UK’s continued reliance on abstraction presents a “potential vulnerability if the correct steps are not taken to address the UK’s water security crisis”.
“To ensure that the UK is equipped with resilient water supplies, investments in future-ready infrastructure and public education are essential”, she continued.
“In the past, we haven’t seen enough invested in water security and to keep up with the challenges posed by climate change and population growth, we will have to see a major shift in how we approach it.”
Deputy chief executive of environmental charity WildFish, Dr. Janina Gray, said that the 2023 report’s finding is “no surprise” given that 85% of the world’s chalk streams are in England, providing “low-cost ‘clean’ water for water companies to use”.
“Water companies have failed to invest in water supply infrastructure such as reservoirs and water recycling – instead favouring the removal of cheap water from the environment,” Gray continued.
The water demand versus supply gap in the UK is expected to grow to five billion litres a day by 2050, according to officials, which is equivalent in volume to 2,000 swimming pools.
Gray called for urgent investment into water supply infrastructure and enforcement to make sure water companies adhere to the timeframes they have set out to improve this deficit, and can adapt to pressures such as climate change.
“Sewage in rivers is bad, but [having] no water in rivers is an ecological disaster,” Gray continued.
A DEFRA spokesperson said: “With rapid population growth and climate change, pressure on our water system is skyrocketing and it’s why we are increasing our water supply whilst also reducing our water usage.
“We have introduced the Water (Special Measures) Bill which will secure investment to upgrade our crumbling water infrastructure – with stronger regulation of the water sector expected to unlock around £88 billion of investment over the next five years.”
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