Water Saving Group Print

 

In England, Waterwise sits on Environment Minister Phil Woolas' Water Saving Group (WSG), which was set up in November 2005 to increase water efficiency in households in England.

The WSG, which meets every six months, also includes Water UK, the Environment Agency, Ofwat, the Consumer Council for Water, and Communities and Local Government. In November 2007 its remit was extended to cover commercial consumption of water, and a new workplan agreed for the following year.

The WSG is taking forward six workstreams

Evidence Base

As part of its role on the Water Saving Group, Waterwise is responsible for the workstream on Information Needs – building the Evidence Base for large-scale water efficiency. This work is analysing the around 20 large-scale water efficiency projects currently being run by UK water companies: the projects have a wide geographical spread with many involving 1,000 homes or more.

The aim of the Evidence Base economic project is to produce a set of scenarios for UK water company water efficiency programmes based upon best available knowledge, that can be used to inform water company investment with particular relation to the Periodic Review. The scenarios will look at different approaches to delivering water efficiency and will present various practical options and their costs and benefits, and AISCs (average incremental social cost): for example the methods used to identify households for retrofit and the staff used to carry out the work. As well as scenarios, the Evidence Base will include AISCs and costs and benefits for individual water efficiency components.

The Evidence Base economic project sits within the twin-track approach. It will be a direct product of the Ministerial Water Saving Group. It is driven by a Steering Group chaired by Anglian Water’s Regulation Director, Jean Spencer, with members drawn from Water Saving Group stakeholders.

Waterwise produced an interim report of the Evidence Base in March 2008, outlining the methodology and analysing several water company projects – in time for water companies to use in their draft Water Resource Management Plans (WRMPs).

Waterwise will produce a further interim report in summer 2008, analysing more company projects, and containing fully worked scenarios to show examples of how water savings from retrofitting of hundreds of thousands of homes can be achieved at lowest cost – water companies will be able to use this as they develop the draft PR09 business plans which they will submit in August, into final plans for the spring.

The final, definitive report of the Evidence Base will be published in October 2008, including analysis of a further set of company projects – this report is timed to feed into Ofwat’s development of the final PR09 business plan reporting requirements, the water companies’ final business plans in April 2009 and their final WRMPs in July and August 2009, and Ofwat’s final PR09 determinations in November 2009, as well as the development of delivery plans to meet the new water efficiency targets.

The Evidence Base should provide a robust economic case for water efficiency in the run up to the next water price review in England and Wales and the Scottish and Northern Ireland price determinations.

 

Two Water Saving Group consultations were published in January 2007. Waterwise’s responses to these can be found under the Consultation Responses.