A £100m marketing campaign urging households and companies to make use of much less water might be funded from prospects’ payments, Ofwat has mentioned.
The regulator’s chief government David Black informed MPs that if the measures labored it might be cheaper than constructing further main new sources of provide.
Firms are underneath rising strain to each cut back demand and reduce down on leaks amid issues that strain from local weather change and a rising inhabitants will put a rising pressure on reserves within the coming years.
Homes and companies use an estimated 14 billion litres of water daily in England and Wales, and the determine is predicted to rise by not less than 4 billion litres by 2050.
Ofwat first introduced in July that it deliberate to launch the fund – which can run alongside different infrastructure spending tasks – however confirmed on Monday who would pay for it.
Mr Black informed MPs on the general public accounts committee: “We’re establishing a fund of £100m for the next price review period, which will be from customers, to help the sector get to a much better place on water demand.
“We have not seen progress from the sector within the present interval nor within the earlier interval. The authorities set difficult targets, we expect the sector must rise to the problem of delivering on that.”
He added: “It is cheaper if that works than the options of constructing main new sources of provide.
“A major new reservoir is expensive, we’re talking about perhaps £2bn or more, so it’s absolutely right that we look at the demand side as well.”
Read extra from Sky News:
New human swine flu pressure detected in UK
Bank of England ‘ought to have its remit pruned’
Christmas dinners in danger after washout harvest
Ofwat mentioned decreasing water use may save households as a lot as £500 a yr.
However, some committee members expressed scepticism over whether or not companies would achieve success in persuading the general public and if £100m can be sufficient.
Critics additionally questioned why prospects had been overlaying the price of the fund.
Environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey wrote on X, previously Twitter: “Bill payers have been funding reduction campaigns for 34 years, why are we been asked to provide yet more money directly as a result of their incompetence?”
It comes after firms mentioned they needed to hike annual family payments by as much as £156 within the second half of the last decade to fund new funding within the water system, together with by constructing new reservoirs to assist meet additional demand.
Campaigners have hit out at water companies for turning to prospects to fund such measures after they pay out billions of kilos yearly in shareholder dividends and curiosity, which make up round 20% of the price of payments every year.
The authorities estimates households use 144 litres of water per particular person per day – which it needs to chop to 122 litres by 2038 and 110 litres by 2050.
It additionally needs water firms to scale back the 20% of provides which might be misplaced via leaky pipes.
Ofwat is but to resolve precisely the way it will use the cash.
But it may contain measures reminiscent of a “widescale” public info marketing campaign, together with focused interventions to establish “large water users” after which recommend methods they could possibly be extra environment friendly with their use.
A session will launch early subsequent yr, with the fund set to be operational by April 2025.
An Ofwat spokesperson mentioned it was “part of our twin track approach of developing new sources of supply and managing demand.”
They added: “Our water resources are precious and water companies must continue to work with industry to be more efficient. This benefits the environment and will help to drive down costs for everyone.”
Source: information.sky.com”