The UK’s leading
supplier and manufacturer of rainwater harvesting systems, has reacted with
surprise to a Panorama documentary, broadcast on BBC 1 on September 19, 2011. Our
industry expert believes that the documentary did not go far enough to address
the real issue of water scarcity and sustainability.
The programme
highlighted that with an ever-decreasing natural water supply, the need to preserve
and reduce mains consumption is essential and must be prioritised to protect
the future of our natural resources.
A family of four also
underwent an extensive analysis of their daily water consumption and received a
number of comprehensive hints and tips to help reduce their mains usage and
minimise utility bills.
“Where was the mention of methods to substitute
water use, rather than simply minimising usage?” questions Michael Farnsworth,
managing director of Stormsaver. “Techniques such as rainwater harvesting and
greywater recycling were totally disregarded. Accordingly, the commercial
sector was completely overlooked, even though the majority of mains consumption
comes from commercial properties, or is used in commercial and industrial
processes to provide goods and services to the consumer!”
“I thought that the
documentary helped to raise awareness of an issue that has previously been ignored,
however it failed to provide the whole picture and educate consumers and
business leaders about the many options available to them to help reduce mains
water consumption.” added Michael.
The Code for
Sustainable Homes states that to achieve level 3 the maximum mains water use
per person per day should be 105L, which the family on the programme were using
before changing their usage through simple methods. With their end usage
bringing them down to 55L per day (less than Level 5 of the CSH) I would
question the calculations as the government, and industry professionals, know
that this is not achievable without some sort of water recycling.
“The documentary highlighted
some of the things that can be done, however the range of options open to the
public and commercial customers is much wider reaching than those things
covered in the programme. More needs to be done to provide information and
support for both homeowners and business leaders, to ensure that we can
preserve our natural supplies and protect the environment further.”
Established in 2003,
Stormsaver have helped over a thousand homes and companies across the country, including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, ASDA, H M Prison service, B&Q and RBS to minimise their water usage and significantly
reduce reliance on mains supply.
Stormsaver offers
a complete range of rainwater harvesting solutions for both commercial and domestic
properties, including its domestic Monsoon® system, which operates on just 90
watts and can help to significantly reduce water consumption.