Water retailers for businesses will develop and deliver water resource management plans to be implemented from 2024 as part of a drive to make the sector more water efficient.
The Retailer Wholesaler Group (RWG), the trade body for the non-household market, has published an action plan on commitments to improve efficiency by better understanding the way water is used by customers.
The roadmap was in response to a call from Ofwat and the Environment Agency last year to deliver greater water efficiency in the business sector and, specifically, to develop and deliver water resource management plans. The RWG formed a subcommittee on efficiency to coordinate the plan. Its delivery will be led by the group with progress reported to Ofwat and the EA as well as to a group the RWG said will be established by Defra.
The plan sets out how the industry will work with government, regulators, customers and stakeholders to deliver on five overall aims:
- Provide greater clarity on expectations and ambition for business water efficiency
- Improve understanding of how business water is being used, where and how much
- Improve collaboration in water resource planning and in identifying and progressing options to meet future business and societal water needs
- Identify and address wider regulatory and other relevant barriers to the delivery of business water efficiency
- Deliver insights into business customer motivations to save water using them to inform water saving campaigns and initiatives
Demand management for non-household sector will be explicitly included in the guidance for water resource management plans developed by the Environment Agency and developed using insight gathered by the RWG.
To identifying barriers to improving efficiency – regulatory or otherwise – the group will review the effectiveness of existing regulations, tariffs, targets, penalties and incentives for wholesalers, retailers and customers.
Where appropriate, the team will explore amending these to support water efficiency.