Labour’s shadow water minister has signalled that he would like to see water usage across the country slashed to 100 litres per day.
Luke Pollard’s comments come as Water UK prepares to release research pointing to how water companies can work towards this target.
Speaking at a Labour party conference fringe session this week, Pollard praised Southern Water’s Target 100 initiative. This seeks to reduce its customers’ per capita water consumption to 100 litres per day, a big reduction on the current average of 140 across England, by 2040.
“It’s a really good initiative and shows that water companies can adapt their vision,” he said, adding that while Labour’s water policy has yet to be signed off, he “likes it”.
“Politicians talk a lot about leakage but we would like to see the same political priority and attention to per capita consumption, which has a direct knock on effect on affordability, as we do to leakage.”
Pollard has spoken about the “environmental necessity” of renationalisation but told the event that the debate can “overshadow” other critical issues.
To a “Iarge” extent, ownership is “irrelevant” if wider issues surrounding the water efficiency of existing household products is not addressed, he said: “Leaky loos will still leak if a water company is owned by a pension find or the state unless policies are adapted round it.
“All too frequently, the debate around water has been dominated by the ownership debate at the expense of affordability debate and certainly at the expense of the carbon debate.”
The Plymouth MP said that there must be a bigger focus on the industry’s carbon emissions, which could include moves to cut the amount of water that is purified to drinking standard which ends up getting used for washing and bathing
He added that he had been disappointed about the water industry’s response to parliament’s declaration of the climate emergency during the summer, admitting that wrestling with this issue had been one of the factors delaying the publication of the party’s water policy paper.
“Companies are doing nothing different since the declaration of the climate emergency, that’s not a good enough answer.”
Michael Roberts, chief executive of Water UK, told the event that the industry body is soon due to release research which examines how consumption levels can be cut to 100 litres per day.
He said it showed that this could be achieved by a combination of measures, including stipulating minimum standards for water efficiency for household products like washing machines and dish washers.
“Combine that with labelling and awareness programmes and you unlock potential in terms of usage.”