Saving water

Nobody would use 50 litres of high-quality drinking water every time they do their washing, would they?

That’s exactly what we all do.

Water is essential to everyday life, but we need to change the way we use it

Our water resources may be in good shape right now, but we need to prepare for the future. A future where we protect our local environment, we are resilient to extreme weather and we work efficiently to keep the cost of bills as low as we can.

On average we use 150 litres of water every single day. If we used regular bottled water to do that, imagine the cost and the waste.

We have the power to control how much water we use

Every drop counts — checking for leaks, turning the tap off as you wash your hands, taking one less bath, waiting to wash a full load and leaving your lawn until the next rainfall makes a big a difference. 

Understanding how to lower your water usage has a positive impact on the water supply, because we need to pump less from the environment to meet demand. This can impact your future bills, because we will avoid projects that involve increasing water supply.

Using less water can also reduce your water bill, as well as your energy bill when you are more conscious about using heated water for washing, baths and showers.

Finding and fixing leaks at home may also be the reason behind mysteriously high-water use. About 30% of leakage comes from our customers’ supplies. Click here to find out if you are eligible for a free leak check.

Water is a precious, limited resource

While our water supply does fall from the sky, how it’s collected, treated, stored and distributed is another story.

It may not seem like it, but the south east gets 50% less rainfall than the rest of the U.K. When the temperature goes up, so does the demand for water, which can strain our local water resources.

The bulk of our water supply comes from underground water-holding rocks called aquifers, with the rest coming from our reservoir at Bough Beech in Kent, fed by the River Eden. We depend on winter rainfall to recharge the underground aquifers and increase the River Eden flow so that we can fill our Bough Beech reservoir. 

Summer rainfall is less effective, as the environment is in its growing season, so less water will reach rivers, streams and aquifers. That means our water supplies don’t replenish in the same way. Learn more about where your water comes from.

Water goes through a rigorous process before coming out of your tap. From the source, it’s pumped to one of our 8 treatment works where it is made safe to drink. It is then pumped from one of our 31 pumping stations and water towers, so that it can flow through our water mains to your taps. 

Our is thoroughly sampled and tested to ensure that it is of the highest quality. Learn more about water quality.

We continually improve our operations to make them more efficient. As part of our 2025—2030 Business Plan, we estimate that the cost of our water will only be 66p per day, on average.

Your environment

Our supply area is home to beautiful landscapes, rivers and chalk streams, and plenty of plants and animals that rely on this environment to survive.

Reducing how much water we use also has a positive impact on our environment. We only pump water to meet customer demand. Where less water is used, we will pump and treat less. This reduces our energy and treatment processes, leaving more water in the environment. 

We are also working to reduce our reliance on water sources in protected or sensitive areas, and we will voluntarily make reductions from 2030 to improve local environments. 

Through detailed calculations, we know we can support this change by reducing the amount of water we need to put into our supply. But if water demand is greater than the needs of population growth and environmental challenges, we would need to find other sources to meet supply needs.

Tackling leaks in our network

We’re working hard every day to tackle leaks in our network — but we know there is more to do. Our 2025-2030 plan is ambitious and includes over £20 million in investment to repair infrastructure, like water mains and replacing pipework. We’re also the first U.K. water company to roll out a fully smart network, that significantly reduces the amount of time it takes us to find a leak and repair it.