Kim Williams, Director of Water Resources for South West Water, is shining a spotlight on the current support to customers and businesses to reduce demand on water resources.
South West Water is continuing to help businesses reduce water use across the region, with the company's water efficiency programme providing practical support and free water-saving measures.
The South West is in a critical phase of an exceptionally prolonged drought. Recent rainfall is welcome, but it has not removed the pressure on water supplies. While the weather has changed, the pressure on water supplies still remains and the Environment Agency has revealed that England still needs at least 120 per cent of average rainfall for the next six months to be considered out of drought by spring.
The company is continuing to offer practical advice, water efficiency support and free water-saving devices to help customers and businesses play their part in protecting our most precious resource.
Kim said:
"Our business water efficiency programme is delivering practical results. By helping customers identify leaks, improve efficiency, offering water efficiency audits and install free water-saving devices, we're reducing water use and helping businesses and customers lower their bills at the same time.
“We work with both homes and businesses to help reduce water use. For businesses we have our efficiency visits, but we also have a grant and innovation fund that allows us to support investment in long-term water saving actions by businesses across our region.
“For households we deliver home efficiency visits as well as providing free water-saving products following a visit to the Get Water Fit online platform. During the visits we provide and install the devices. All customers whether visited or not can order water saving devices through Get Water Fit.
“We are currently also encouraging customers to identify if they have a leaky loo – that can waste up to 400 litres of water a day, and we are offering to repair this free of charge at the moment.
“We are currently finding that 11 per cent of the homes we are visiting have one or more leaking toilet.
"These savings continue every day after a visit takes place, which means the benefits are being felt long after the work has been completed.”
The water efficiency team have completed 793 Business Water Efficiency visits across the region since the start of the year, with a targeted approach to businesses in areas most affected by drought since the summer.
The results show what practical support can achieve. More than 5,500 water-saving devices have been fitted, saving around 275,000 litres of water every day. Over 1,370 internal plumbing leaks have also been repaired, with estimated savings exceeding 100,000 litres of water a day.
These are improvements that keep delivering, helping businesses reduce unnecessary consumption long after the visit ends and at all times of the year, not just during dry periods.
Find out more information about the Innovation Fund, or read more about leaky loos.