Reflecting on the year to date and why I think saving water is so important

We have had a busy first half of the year at Waterwise and are working on a number of campaigns and events to help promote the importance of water efficiency – and Water Saving Week provides the perfect opportunity to raise awareness of this important issue! It’s fantastic to be working with our key supporters, including Business Stream, who are passionate about this subject area. By working together, we can help to spread the word and provide people with the right advice and tools to help save what is fast becoming a precious resource.

In January we launched our #Pledge2021, aimed to save at least 2,021 litres of water over 28 days. Each day, a short email was sent out to everyone that signed up, giving really simple and easy tips to follow. These ranged from taking a shorter shower and using the correct flush on dual flush toilets to having a meat free day and trying to avoid buying unnecessary clothes (one cotton t-shirt alone requires 2,700 litres of water to produce!). Over the course of the month we had over 1000 sign ups, resulting in over 2.1 million litres of water saved - a fantastic result!

Then, in March, we hosted our Annual Water Efficiency Conference ‘Mainstreaming Water Efficiency: Averting a UK water crisis’. The conference explored a variety of topics including how we can get water efficiency mainstreamed into society, the economy, policy, regulation and behaviour across the UK and we had a wide range of speakers, including Business Stream! The conference was sponsored by South West Water and others which allowed us to offer tickets to all of our supporters for FREE!

More recently, we’ve partnered once again with Water UK to re-launch our Water’s Worth Saving campaign, so please do follow us to receive lots of helpful tips on how you can take small steps to use water wisely. And this week we are celebrating Water Saving Week! The focus this year will be on taking water wisdom beyond your four walls and saving water outside of your home or business. Throughout the week we’ll be encouraging people to think not only about what they’re doing to save water at home or at work, but about how they use water out and about, and how they can encourage their friends and family or other local businesses to save water too.

And finally, why do I choose to save water? I save water because without water, there is no life. There is no Planet B and we all need to act now in order to save this precious resource and ensure there is enough for future generations. Sir David Attenborough explains it fabulously in his documentaries, highlighting the devastating impact that we humans have on the planet and environment - it's heart-breaking. Therefore, by saving water, we can all help to play our part, however big or small, in ensuring that we look after this wonderful planet we call our home. Thank you to everyone who supports our campaigns, by getting involved you are helping to make a real difference!

Stephanie Hurry, Head of Water Efficiency Engagement, Waterwise - the leading authority on water efficiency in the UK