Scottish Water Launches Water Efficiency Videos

1st October 2012

Scottish Water has launched three new water efficiency videos to raise awareness of water use around the home by our customers.

Water is a precious resource and a lot of energy is used by Scottish Water to treat and then pump it to homes. Although we are fortunate to have considerable stocks of water in reservoirs across Scotland it is always wise to save it where we can in the interest of the environment.

The videos are hosted on the utility firm's website at
www.scottishwater.co.uk/savewater

The videos focus on the three areas of the home where the most water use occurs - the bathroom, the kitchen and the garden. Some of the tips include:

* Taking less time in the shower, turning off the tap while brushing teeth and using the shower instead of the bath are all ways we can save water in the bathroom.
* Using a bucket and sponge to wash the car, getting a water butt in the garden to catch rainwater for watering plants and avoiding the use of sprinklers are good ways to reduce water use in the garden.
* Avoiding half loads in the washing machine, washing vegetables in a bowl and boiling the kettle with only the water you need help save water in the kitchen.

Peter Farrer, Customer Service Delivery Director, said: "By making small changes to our habits we can significantly reduce water usage without compromising our quality of life.

"With these videos we aim to raise awareness of how easy that is. The videos were made by Scottish Water's in-house team and used employee volunteers as actors - so even the making of the videos was efficient."

Keith Phillips, Scottish Water's Development Planning Manager, said: "A number of initiatives are underway to make Scotland more water efficient and these videos are just one of them.

"We offer a water usage calculator on our website -
http://www.scottishwater.co.uk/watercalculator

"We are also working with Home Log Book Solutions to undertake a trial of water efficiency measures in social housing properties. Five Housing Associations have signed up to participate in the trial, giving us a total of 400 properties.

"We will be installing meters in the homes to measure the water consumption over three years. The first year will be used to collect base line data. Then at the beginning of year two we will proceed with either retrofitting water efficient devices, instigating a targeted communication programme on the best way to be more water efficient in the home or both. The meters are currently being installed with a view to the start of the year one being late August/early September.

"We are also undertaking a Water Efficiency Trial which will look at the effectiveness of different water efficiency measures in new build properties. This will be similar to the Social Housing Trial but it will run for five years and any water efficient devices will be installed
when the houses are built to avoid retrofitting of new houses. The aim of this trial is to determine which method of water efficiency is most effective and sustainable over a period of time.

"And we are keeping our own house in order by conducting water efficiency audits of Scottish Water buildings. An auditor will be visiting our larger sites over the next few months, and the information provided will be analysed by ourselves - in conjunction with Waterwise - to identify where action has to be taken to improve the efficiency of our buildings in the most effective way."

Scottish Water is also doing its bit to reduce water lost through leakage in its 47,500km long network of water mains. Since forming in 2002, leakage has been reduced by 44%. In the last year, leakage has been reduced by over 70million litres of water a day.