Water Waste

My Climate Resilient Schools Programme worked with 95 London schools to deliver water saving measures and advice through Thames Water “Smarter Business Visits”. This delivered savings of 558,892 litres of water per day. That is 1 Olympic swimming pool saved per week.

There is also much that is out of the control of ordinary Londoners. I am also keen to hold water companies to account for expensive leakages form pipes that are needless and wasteful. Nearly 25% of all water put into supply is lost to leakage in London.

My London Plan makes clear the need to minimise water usage. It requires new development to achieve water mains consumption of 105 litres or less per person per day and BREEAM excellent standard for water consumption in commercial development, and to implement measures like smart metering, water saving and recycling, including retrofitting. Around 535 million litres of water have been saved through London Plan Policies in residential developments approved in 2022. This is enough water to fill 218 Olympic swimming pools.

I continue to send a clear message to London’s water companies to take urgent action to stop leaks, wasting millions of litres of water every day and to upgrade the ageing water supply infrastructure to ensure a resilient future supply network.