House of Lords Report Strengthens Case for Water Reuse

The House of Lords Select Committee on Environment and Climate Change has released its latest report: “Surviving the Drought: Reclaim the Rain”.

This report discusses the role of water reuse and rainwater harvesting in bridging the supply and demand gap.

Select committees exist in both the House of Lords and the House of Commons, and their core purpose is to gather evidence from experts and publish reports with recommendations for action for the government.

As part of this process, the government must address recommendations with either a rejection or an acceptance.

This publication represents yet another endorsement of the need for these vital water-saving technologies to be installed in all new developments.

This short article will summarise the key points, provide insight into our thoughts, and give an idea of the next steps.

• The headline recommendation is for the government to go further and faster in progressing greater water efficiency. There is a recognition here that rainwater harvesting is key to drought resilience and that the existing barriers of clear national guidance, skills gaps, and safety regulations should be addressed.
• There is a recognition that retrofitting rainwater harvesting systems to existing buildings is significantly challenging, and addressing water reuse at a new-build level is most cost-effective.
• Rainwater harvesting systems installed on a new development can be achieved through a “collective” method rather than at a household level, which can support design and storage optimisation.
• Renewed calls for water companies to move from an advisory role to a statutory consultee on new planning applications, requiring formal input from water companies to give greater control over water supplies.
• Work is occurring around water efficiency design standards for data centres by the Minister for Water and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

This is yet another report which shines a light on the key relevance of water reuse. What is even more significant is that this report has come from the highly influential House of Lords Select Committee, and that means the UK Government is likely to respond to all recommendations within the report in two months’ time.

We also agree with the evidence provided for water reuse in residential settings. In our experience, communal systems offer the best approach over per-plot equivalents on developments because…

• Cost-effectiveness – Enabling Water Smart Communities found that, at scale, communal systems were, on average, 50% more cost-effective than per-plot equivalents.
• Safety – The key interface between the rainwater and mains water backup on communal systems is in a locked area, which is inaccessible to the public, reducing the risk of cross-contamination.
• Maintenance and aftercare – As per Section 7.10 of the National Standard for SuDS, rainwater harvesting systems must be managed and maintained effectively. Where a professional body or organisation is adopting the rainwater harvesting asset, it can be more easily centrally monitored and maintained.