Save Water Swindon saw every household in the town offered a free water-saving visit or the opportunity to request gadgets to install themselves. More than 24,000 homes snapped up the offer, each saving an average of 46.6 litres per day and one million litres in total.
Thames Water also provided water efficiency measures and advice at a number of schools and business in Swindon and carried out extensive research on how to reduce water use in other areas of the country. This work resulted in an extra 640,000 litres per day being saved.
This helped Thames Water to surpass its target for the project, to cut water usage by one million litres per day.
The campaign saw almost a third of Swindon households order water-saving freebies including efficient showerheads, tap inserts and toilet cistern bags or have a home visit to fit them.
Thames Water started the pilot to help protect the River Kennet catchment area, which is home to one of only 200 chalk streams left in the world and boasts species including water voles, water crowfoot, river lamprey and brown trout.
Thames Water Save water Swindon project coordinator Karen Simpson: “Swindon residents have shown how much they care about the River Kennet, which will be better able to cope with periods of low rainfall and changing weather patterns as a result.”
WWF’s water policy manager Rose O’Neill said: “Save Water Swindon tried something that had not been done before and, as a result, residents of Swindon have not only helped to save water but they’ve also helped the River Kennet – the beautiful chalk stream that supplies them with water and is also home to some of the nation’s most precious wildlife.”
Waterwise managing director Jacob Tompkins added: “This pilot demonstrates that large-scale, whole town water efficiency interventions can successfully deliver significant contributions to water company supply demand balance. Now we would love to see this approach scaled up and used in other areas.”
This article first appeared on WWTonline.