Safeguarding Our Water Supplies

Water is an extremely precious commodity that can be easily polluted. Given the UK climate, you might be forgiven for thinking we have an abundant supply. However, our demand for water is rising steadily and availability of water depends heavily on the facilities available in different parts of the country for collecting, storing, treating, safeguarding and distributing.

Consequently, from an environmental viewpoint, we need to be efficient in how we use water and take care not to pollute the stocks of water available to us.

Using Water Efficiently

Even from a purely economic point of view, businesses can benefit from using less water. For example, the costs associated with your water usage might include:

• Initial payment for the water you use, which can also be affected by the size of meter provided by your supplier



• Installing and maintaining storage facilities and the means of pumping and distributing water around your site



• Energy you use to heat and cool water



• Disposing of waste water



• Treatment of waste water before you can safely dispose of it

Any reduction in your use of water will also reduce these, and other, associated costs. You may even be able to save on tax through claiming Enhanced Capital Allowances for water efficient products that appear on the Water Technology List.

In fact, it has been estimated that many businesses could save up to 50% of their water usage by such simple measures as:

• Checking how much water is currently used in industrial processes or for "domestic" purposes (e.g. washing, flushing toilets, etc)



• Locating and eliminating leaks as quickly as possible



• Examining industrial processes for opportunities to use less water or recycle waste water



• Introducing staff incentives/reward schemes for conserving water

Preventing Water Pollution

There are so many ways in which our water supplies can be polluted that it is surprising how effectively the water companies manage to safeguard supplies. Pollution may be caused by the discharge of substances in common use by businesses or by something as innocent as rainwater flushing across the site and picking up pollutants on the way.

Pollutants may find their way into surface water such as rivers, canals, lakes, reservoirs or the sea. They may also soak down into groundwater, potentially causing problems for crops growing on the surface or for extraction of drinking water.

If there is the potential for you to discharge substances into surface or groundwater, either intentionally or accidentally, directly or through the sewers, then you need to review your controls carefully to ensure the risks are being properly managed.

We offer a range of environmental training courses to support our services. In particular, see the overview for:

• Emergency Spill Response

See Reference pages for information on Legislation / Glossary / Weblinks