Affinity is to launch a campaign called Save our Streams to reduce water consumption in its region by 20 megalitres this year.
Speaking at Waterwise’ 2021 conference, Affinity’s head of demand management Edward Barnes said the initiative was intended to influence consumer behaviour by drawing a direct line of sight to local chalk streams and waterways.
He said the company is targeting 12,000 sign-ups to raise awareness and reduce usage in an area where per capita consumption (PCC) is above average. Barnes noted that 10 per cent of properties within Affinity’s network are worth more than £1 million, so economic drivers were low with some customers.
Partnerships will be key to the success of the Save our Streams campaign and other efficiency drives, therefore Affinity is working with local social media influencers and groups and is appealing for any other organisations within or outside of the sector to be involved.
Affinity has a target to reduce PCC by 12.5 per cent by 2025, which it calculated would also bring carbon savings of 28 tonnes of Co2 equivalent.
The campaign will build on work Affinity has done to stop abstracting from chalk streams in its region to protect and enhance the biodiversity in them. In September it announced immediate cessation of taking water from two of its streams and set out plans to cut abstraction in a further four river catchments by 2024.
Along with Southern, Thames and Anglian, Affinity pledged to invest millions of pounds to stop the decline of these waterways, of which 85 per cent are found in the UK and said to be as biodiverse as a rainforest. The four companies’ regions are home to the majority of the world’s streams.