The Mayor's draft water strategy - london.gov.uk - Greater London ...

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Mayor’s foreword My goal for London is to ensure that it meets the highest environmental standards to preserve and protect our citizens’ quality of life, leading the world in its approach to tackling the challenges of the 21st century. And nowhere is this more vital than in the safeguarding of the capital’s water resources in the face of a steadily growing population, a more competitive global business environment and a changing climate. London has been at the forefront of water technology thanks to the engineering genius of the Victorians who provided us with the world’s most advanced water and drainage systems. Now, half our creaky water mains are more than 100 years old and a quarter of the precious water supplied to our city is lost through leakage despite steady progress in stemming these losses in recent years. The sewage system regularly overflows into the Thames, one of our finest assets, producing a threat to the myriad flora and fauna that the river supports whilst compromising its value as an invaluable recreational and sporting resource. London already receives about the same rainfall every year as Barcelona and the projected shifts in our climate during the coming decades will see hotter, drier summers and warmer, wetter winters. In 2005 and 2006 we had an exceptionally dry spell which brought restrictions on our water use and highlighted how finely balanced our water resources are. We are fortunate in that we have enough water to serve our city’s needs, but only if we use it wisely and effectively. Becoming more water wise is common sense - not only to us as individual Londoners, but for the health and wealth of the city as a whole. As our city grows and climate change bites, we will need to use less water more efficiently. We face a clear choice: to make the water we have go further, or to pay for prohibitively expensive new ways to secure water such as a new reservoir. If the average Londoner reduced their water use by just 10 per cent a day we could save an incredible 48 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of water every day. These savings would also be felt in our pockets - using a water efficient showerhead plus taking a slightly shorter shower could save up to £166 for a typical household energy and water bills, if they are fitted with a water meter. Water efficiency provides triple savings - saving once by not paying for water we don’t use, saving twice by not heating water we don’t require and finally saving a third time by avoiding water infrastructure we don’t need.
6 The Mayor’s draft water strategy It will also help tackle climate change and the consequences for our water supply it presents. We will be helping Londoners save water through a programme to be launched next year which will make up to 1.8 million homes more water and energy efficient. This could save households each year an average of £62 off bills, equalling a not insignificant 46,000 litres of water and half a ton of carbon per home. This strategy contains other proposals to ensure London doesn’t experience water shortages in the future. I would like to thank those who have contributed to this draft strategy to date notably the Environment Agency and Thames Water. I now warmly welcome comments and views to develop the detailed proposals contained here. Boris Johnson Mayor of London
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The Mayor's draft water strategy - london.gov.uk - Greater London ...

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