WATEF Blog Archive

Over one million litres of natural hot spring water at up to 45°C rises in the centre of Bath every day flowing through the Roman Baths and the Great Drain to discharge into the River Avon. Bath Abbey plans to recovery energy from the water in the Great Drain for heating of the Abbey as part of the much broader £20m Footprint Project currently underway on site...

What value does certification place on water?

We discuss the challenge of assessing the true impact of sustainability certification on water efficiency in buildings. And in 2018, do these fixed scoring systems go far enough for water?

Our October blog focussed on the influence of smart metering on the efficiency, operation and management of current and future urban water systems. This result seems to me to be quite inspirational and made me think about a number of questions beyond all the current and future smart-technology available...

Pressure on limited water resources and frequent combined sewer overflow (CSO) spills due to external scenarios such as climate change and ever-increasing population growth, means that our water systems and infrastructure are under increasing pressure. This has led stakeholders to explore more efficient strategies for management of water resources and demand. Thanks to the technological advancemen....

Okay. Apologies for the ‘B’ word. I guess most people have had enough already by now. However, it is within this context that the Water Efficiency network takes to Europe, Portugal in fact, as we continue to maintain ‘strong and stable’ links with our European neighbours and partners.

In March 2018 we effectively faced a major drought occurring within the space of several days – we need to have much greater engagement with customers in order to deal with all resilience issues and water efficiency is a key aspect of this.

Five years ago, I was a (very stressed) research student searching for data: domestic water consumption data from an adequate number of homes in the UK that would help me answer the question – Do water efficiency programmes in the UK lead to a decrease in domestic water demand and if so, how much water is being saved?

Adnams have introduced new technology into our brewery and distillery to reduce both water and energy consumption. This is a huge chapter in our sustainability story – our distillery water consumption should reduce by about half and our energy (and carbon emissions) will reduce by around 15%.

You’ve probably heard about the energy trilemma. Well, the water sector is facing its own trilemma: it needs to allocate increasingly scarce resources of water among citizens, the economy and the environment if it’s to avoid a damaging conflict between them.

When I was a child, I used to observe all the antiques my parents had around the house. I particularly liked some objects that were, in fact, the bathroom of my great grandparents (Fig. 1) and never thought that the nowadays bathroom, that I always took for granted, could have been so different. Around the same time, I remember to find very awkward that my grandmother used to have a small “potty....