Green Councillor Kevin Pressland is a passionate campaigner for nature and the natural environment. His understanding of the threats faced by the natural world is based on expertise gained from a 40-year career in horticulture, garden design and sustainable land management:
Water stress is a reality. Rainwater Harvesting Systems could reduce water bills, helping to safeguard rivers and the sea.
It’s not happening in Thanet on new builds or new extensions or elsewhere in the UK unless on small projects. Why?
There is currently no obligation under the water efficiency requirements of the Building Regulations for a developer to include water reuse or water catchment on domestic properties. Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems are encouraged but why not more efficient use directly benefiting consumers too?
Domestically, water reuse can be achieved on an optional basis via individual plot systems. Communal water catchment systems are currently not a statutory legal requirement for existing homes in England. However, the government and water regulators are increasingly encouraging or mandating them through planning policies and environmental permits to combat water scarcity and reduce flood risk,
Individual houses could save water run off from their roofs and utilise this for their own benefit reducing bills by 40 to 50% annually. This is done in some other countries , why not here?
Commercial developers (and self-build projects) looking to achieve higher BREEAM ratings on their buildings use these systems. However there is still room for many more commercial enterprise participations which will reduce their water cost overheads and efficiencies for business.
Overall, a single, unified piece of legislation is needed for both commercial and domestic settings to increase uptake of these vital systems here in Kent and the wider UK, making this a mandatory requirement on new builds and extensions to properties is key.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham, please do this. Polly Billington MP please urge him. It also helps with a growth agenda but in a genuinely positive way.
There is potential for water reuse to dramatically reduce the 2055 national water deficit, but only if it is mandated as part of the Building Regulations in all new commercial and residential developments. If this were to be mandated from 2030, by 2055, we could reduce the deficit by 21%.
However, the later we implement water reuse as part of the Building Regulations, the less we can save.
For example, if we wait to mandate water reuse until 2035, by 2055, we would only reduce the national deficit by 17%.
If we mandate from 2040, this drops further to just a 13% saving against the deficit.
This impact figure has been calculated using the following approach…
Residential savings – this is based on a 25-litre per person, per day saving (Future Homes Hub Water Ready Report, 2023), an average occupancy of 2.4 per home, and an average construction rate of 250,000 new homes per year.
Commercial savings – this is based on an average construction rate of 2,600 new commercial properties per year, all saving 10m3 per day through rainwater harvesting (Ricardo, 2017).
There are currently lots of debates following the consultation on Part G of the Building Regulations over whether rainwater harvesting and greywater recycling should be made mandatory in new commercial and domestic developments in the UK.
I urge you to urge your district and county councillors and MP to push for legislation and implementation.
A recent consultation asked the key question: should rainwater harvesting and greywater technologies be a part of the Building Regulations?
An expert article provided an impact analysis to show the water-saving potential, as well as list the wider benefits.
The article was designed for policy makers, water companies, building design engineers, and anyone who has a part to play in the wider discussion on water reuse.
For metered homes in England, a domestic system can save roughly £176–£220 annually on water bills, with full underground systems costing between £2,000 to £7,000+ to install above or below ground will be a determinate factor in cost.
These costs should be paid by water companies and/or the government as there are multiple benefits that can be accrued for society, reducing volume water run off, contributing to reduce sewage outfall, creating jobs throughout England and UK in installation and manufacturing.
Also building the tanks using hemp supports an additional break crop for farmers to aid soil fertility and carbon sequestration, also this could create manufacturing jobs too.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham, please take up this. Polly Billington MP , please lobby for this.
Help make a difference and lobby for such an approach, after all if we want growth why not support positive growth rather than the current growth model which is still largely extractivist.
