Tim Farron MP champions the cause of Water Saving Week
Next week marks the arrival of the first ever national Water Saving Week. Yesterday Shadow Secretary of State for Defra Tim Farron hosted a press conference in Parliament to launch the week. As the MP for one of Britain's wettest constituencies, containing many of Cumbria's Lakes and enjoying one of the highest levels of rainfall, Tim made the point that we can easily make the mistake of thinking that water is an infinite resource.
Water Saving Week, organised by the Managing Director of Carbon Neutral Media - Shaun Coles is aimed at raising awareness about the value and cost of clean water in the UK for both the domestic and business markets.
The major financial cost of water is incurred in making it drinkable and yet Waterwise estimates that a third of all water piped to houses in the UK is flushed straight down the toilet, similarly Envirowise has estimated that a staggering £10 million worth of water is wasted by businesses in the UK each day.
Stakeholders from the water industry gathered together to outline their plans for tackling water wastage, representatives came together from all quarters of the industry to support the excellent work which Water Saving Week is doing.
Commenting Mr Farron said:
"It's incredibly important that awareness about this precious commodity is raised and people take saving water more seriously. I hope that Water Saving Week is a real success, and that it continues for many years to come.
"Our individual water use has risen 30% since 1970 and we habitually waste huge amounts of it. We simply have to start taking water conservation seriously.
"It is not only water that we are wasting. Heating water in British homes accounts for 5.5% of our total greenhouse gas emissions, energy costs of heating water are immense - 25% of household energy bills are spent on heating water.
"If we can cut down on unnecessary water usage by for example installing duel toilet flushes then this can make a dramatic change, not only to our water use levels, but also to our energy and climate change targets."