Housing Sustainability Matters Number 3 - Water, The New Oil?
Supply and demand up the spout
Southeast England is more water stressed than Nigeria. We use more water than we have - depleting our underground resources. Water is becoming so scarce that academics are predicting that the first water wars are just around the corner.
Water companies are seeking to make considerable price increases. To maintain an affordable supply, we need to take care. One important option is water harvesting. After all, we currently each flush 38 litres of drinking water down the toilet each day, nearly half our daily use.
Trickling through our fingers
Our climate is changing: Rainfall events are becoming less predictable, generally less frequent, but often more intense. When rainwater hits our hard urban surfaces, it runs off quickly, often overloading drains and sewers. It looks for the quickest way back the sea, often gets it, and has slipped through our fingers unused.
What you can do?
- Get a Hippo or a Hog to sit in your toilet cistern, and save water every time you flush.
- If you have a garden, consider getting a water butt.
- Only use your washing machine when you have a full load.
- Fill the kettle with only as much water as you need. This will also reduce electricity consumption.
- Find out more on the Waterwise website
What can we do?
As a council, we can help to encourage the uptake of more water efficient technology. When drawing up specifications we should be considering spray-mixer taps, low flush WCs and water efficient appliances. More at www.greenstreet.org.uk
Rainwater harvesting in Lambeth
The first rainwater harvesting project run by Lambeth Council is at the new Boatemah Walk in Angell Town, SW9. Rainwater is collected from the new solar pv roof, and stored in a special tank. A pump, driven by the solar power collected from the roof will then circulate the water around the WCs, providing for at least 80% of the water requirement of the WCs. More info from: mprescott@lambeth.gov.uk
Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems
SUDS, a CIRIA initiative, and a nice pun, is all about designing urban spaces to reduce the negative impact of poor drainage, and gaining the potential benefits of collecting water locally. Many existing urban drainage systems can cause problems of flooding, pollution and damage to the environment and are not proving to be sustainable. Porous paving and rainwater collection tanks help to address these issues. See www.ciria.org.uk/suds/.
Web resources