TO THE REGULATORY DIRECTORS OF ALL
WATER AND SEWERAGE COMPANIES AND
WATER COMPANIES

9 December 1999

1998-99 REPORT ON LEAKAGE AND WATER EFFICIENCY

You will now have received a copy of this report, which was published on 8 December. The report sets out the industry's progress in reducing leakage and in promoting the efficient use of water by their customers.

This letter is concerned with companies' duties to promote the efficient use of water by their customers. The report emphasises the importance of proper monitoring to ensure that each company's strategy focusses on what works best and on what is most cost effective. It also notes the apparent reluctance amongst companies to share the results of their trials with each other which hinders the development of good practice. I am therefore enclosing for your information a copy of our more detailed summary of each company's monitoring and research activity, which is referred to on page 34 of the report.

Yours sincerely

Sue Cox
Head of Service and Performance Team

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Water Company	Metering	Cistern	Grey water & water efficient homes	Garden watering	Audits	Education & information	Other
Anglian	Customer Tracking Survey March 1999: 70% of customers strongly agreed metering was a good idea - Results in JR99. Continual monitoring of the impact of metering (SodCon).	Aquasave -phase 2 (investigating the effectiveness of both old & new style dual flush toilets in partnership with the EA, and of the interruptible flush) - Results due shortly. Delayed Action Float Valve (delays water entering toilet cisterns before flush is completed) - No date for results (considering publication). Waterless Urinals - No date for results. Researched of six pairs of toilets at Anglian's Head Office fitted with water displacement devices. Flow was monitored for six months and showed no clear trends, the company was forced to assume no net savings - Results in JR99. 440,000 Freddies were issued in the summer of 1998 in water deficient areas. Market research showed a 40% take up rate - Results in JR99.	Blackwater recycling (A one year pilot study of treating blackwater for toilet flushing on an entire estate in Blackburn) - Results due March 2000. Commercial grey water recycling (Experiments being conducted at Loughborough and Cranfield University) - Results due July 2000. Domestic grey water recycling including sponsoring CIRIA/BSRIA research - Results due Feb 2000. Aquasave grey water recycling (complete) - No date for results (awaiting permission of Aquasaver.			Natural World series of TV adverts (no robust way of monitoring impact as yet) Waterwise Campaign assessed customers' attitudes, 82% read at least part of the literature and 40% fitted a water displacement device - Results in JR99.	Research of effluent reuse for irrigation, industry and reservoir recharge - Results due Dec 1999.
Dwr Cymru (Welsh)		Hereford Hippo Trial (Customer survey research) - Results in JR99 Volume data research on Hippos from DMA trials indicated no significant savings - Company is now investigating the economics of a new cistern device.	Sponsors of BSRIA/CIRIA research 'Grey water research' (Buildings that Save Water) - Project has been extended due to an increase in funding, no date for results.		'Arena' project - eight companies were assessed and given a plan for water savings, a review is to take place shortly to see if companies took up Dwr Cymru's (Welsh) recommendations - No date for results.		Greenhill School sixth form (water & energy efficiency project). Monitoring of alternative methods of water saving appliances - Results can be seen on their internet site shortly and the company will continue to monitor devices for several years. Bedlinog - 'Going for Green Campaign' (regular contact with local primary school that fitted nine hippos, resulting in a cut in water demand) - Will continue to monitor school's progress.

Water Company	Metering	Cistern	Grey water & water efficient homes	Garden watering	Audits	Education & information	Other
North West	Free metering in Bowering Park and Mottram showed DMA savings of between 5 -10 l/prop/day - Results received.	Trial of thirteen waterless urinal systems, one at North West's Head Office and twelve at a major business -Trial is ongoing, no date for results. 900 properties in Stockport were offered a free soggy doggy cistern device. The take up was 131 properties and estimated savings were 10 l/prop/day. The company now trials save a flush devices - Results in JR99. 3,178 save-a-flush devices were issued to Local Authorities, councils and hospitals on a trial basis. Customers were provided with a monitoring report form and invited to share their results with North West Water - No date for results.	Four grey water recycling units have been installed in a housing development in Toxteth. The trial will try to ascertain the effectiveness of units, ease of installation, and maintenance requirements - Trial is ongoing, no date for results.		North West Water offered 1,500 properties a household water audit, however only 157 properties took up this offer. The initiative was very expensive at £95 per audit and savings were low at 13 l/prop/day. Results were also obscured by other activities taking place in the DMA - Results received. Under the Solway banner North West Water conducted a water audit at Nelson Thomlinson School. A number of water saving measures were installed and water demand was cut by 20% to 30% - Results received. North West Water is working with other schools and in partnership with the Environment Agency to promote water efficiency, providing information and advice to reduce school water bills. A second school audit as been completed at Thomas Boteler School, Warrington - No date for results.		Leakage reduction in Solway was achieved by a variety of techniques and monitored over a trial period - Results received. Company will continue to work with the business community in Solway to see if any joint initiatives could be implemented.
Northumbrian		Market research on cistern device savings - Results in JR99.					Survey of customer water use (Oct 1998). 2,000 customers were sent questionnaires and a response rate of 25% was achieved - Results in JR99.

Water Company	Metering	Cistern	Grey water & water efficient homes	Garden watering	Audits	Education & information	Other
Severn Trent		Company trials reported that hippos when fitted in a lower capacity system resulted in regular double flushing - No actual figures reported in JR99. Currently trialing save a flush devices with business customers (Jaguar and Birmingham University). If this is successful, they will distribute devices to other sections of their customer base - No date for results.	Rainwater harvesting system study in four new homes, Telford (joint sponsorship with local councils, two property developers and the Environment Agency, which aims to collect, store and utilise rainwater to flush toilets and operate washing machines) - No date for results.
South West		Hippo trials in four DMAs in Plymouth - Results received.	Considering the promotion of other water saving devices in the home, including grey water devices, and the economics of their use.		Watersmart audit (400 households audited in a single DMA, between January and March 1999) - Results due shortly.

 

Water Company	Metering	Cistern	Grey water & water efficient homes	Garden watering	Audits	Education & information	Other
Southern		111,000 save a flush and 75,000 hippos were mailshot to customers in the Sussex region - Follow up survey, results July 2000. Future work will involve the distribution of save a flush devices and associated market research; will also incorporate a prize competition to increase installation rates - No date for results. Isle of Thanet hippo Study - Results received. Dual Flush WCs (joint project with EA) testing and monitoring of their effectiveness in a trial of domestic properties in Sussex. - Results due at the end of the year.	Produced a leaflet, which will be targeted at all major developers encouraging them to adopt water saving ideas and will survey the effect of this after its deployment to assess its impact - No date for results. Flow restrictors are being tested and monitored in a new block of 10 flats owned by a Housing Association - Results due shortly. Proposed trial evaluating the re-use of grey water units in 6 new properties (joint project with Raglan Housing Assoc.) - Trial is expected to begin as properties become occupied in summer 1999. Support CIRIA project (2nd year of a three year programme looking at the use of grey/rain water recycling units)	Currently researching water butt savings at Small Dole , West Sussex) (including a postal survey of gardening practices - Results due shortly.	Watersmart audit of 500 households (produced calculated savings but no DMA savings) - Results received. Self Help checklist (customer's assess their water use in their home and garden) - 14% response rate - Results in JR99. Non-household audit (survey of 1,186 businesses indicated a 3.4% take-up of advice) Completed 51 wastewater works and 10 water supply work audits - Results are due shortly. .		Commissioned ICM to carry out a random 1000 customer telephone survey for 1999/00 campaign (understanding where water is wasted in the home and why) - Results received. Invested £6,000 with the University of Wales (researching customer behaviour changes associated with water efficient information) - No date for results. Worthing High School Audit (12 months of monitoring water consumption, which showed a reduction - Results received. Southern Water is now in discussion with local council's encouraging other schools to follow this example. Postal research survey 'When you use water in your home are you doing your bit?'. 450,000 questionnaires were sent to customers and 70,000 customers completed and returned the survey - Awaiting final figures. Domestic water consumption survey of Southern's staff at Crawley office (200 questionnaires completed, providing details of water use in their homes, gardens etc) - Results are due shortly

Water Company	Metering	Cistern	Grey water & water efficient homes	Garden watering	Audits	Education & information	Other
Thames			Working with water sciences department at Cranfield and Oxford Brookes on a number of water recycling and water efficient practice projects - Results will be reported in JR2000. Currently working in partnership with Crest Homes installing water efficient appliances and recycling units in new properties - Results will be reported in JR2000. Major water efficient initiative for the Millennium Dome (in conjunction with New Millennium Experience Company). Thames has installed a water-recycling scheme which will be used for flushing toilets and urinals around the site. Water efficient fixtures and fittings have also been installed e.g. waterless urinals, controlled taps, dual flush toilets and infrared toilets. Will monitor the impact on consumption - Results will be reported in JR2000.		Household self-audit scheme based on market research and customers reporting changes in their water use - Results in JR99. Watersmart audit of 1,276 households and nearly 5,000 measures were installed) - Results received. 62 businesses approached Thames for an audit/advice; savings were based on a customer information system and 34 sites had accurate consumption records - Results in JR99.		Domestic Water Tracking Survey (since Feb 1998) to monitor changes in customer water use. Each month an external market research company conducts 150, 20 minute face to face interviews, reported on a quarterly basis - Results received.
Wessex				Will carry out market research towards the end of the year to assess the effectiveness of water butts.			Continued monitoring of consumption for both measured and unmeasured customers.

Water Company	Metering	Cistern	Grey water & water efficient homes	Garden watering	Audits	Education & information	Other
Yorkshire	Domestic consumption monitoring of unmeasured customers who opt to pay by metered charge, continue to be monitored (but their figures are excluded from the unmeasured per capita consumption calculation) in order to assess the change in their usage after opting for a meter.				Water efficient packs were issued to 2,608 customers of the Dore Village, Sheffield. A follow up questionnaire was sent to a random 17% of residents to assess what measures they had undertaken as a result of the audit, and to see whether they had fitted the device. Savings of 0.24 Ml/d were assumed - Results in JR99. 5,459 physical business audits were conducted by the company and savings of 8 Ml/d were found due to 1,128 leakage detection visits. Yorkshire Water will continue to monitor its school project (Joint water conservation project) where overall consumption for the 13 schools was cut by 40% - Results received.		Phase 1 trials completed in 1997-98. Phase 2: The company envisages working with Local Authorities Agenda 21 and Sustainability Groups and with their mains rehabilitation contractors on the installation of cistern devices. Two pilots are scheduled for 1999/00 to establish whether the practicalities of a third party fitting cistern devices and recording the event are sustainable in the long term. Phase 3 of Yorkshire's water efficiency programme will see the targeting of between 20,000 and 30,000 properties per annum for the installation of cistern devices. Suggested savings for this project are 3 Ml/d by 2005.
Bristol		Promotes the installation of one litre plastic bottles under 'Have you got the bottle?' campaign. Savings were calculated from market research (2000 questionnaires) and device assumptions. Savings of 0.46 Ml/d assumed - Results in JR99.			Conducted 18 non-household visits to businesses. Six out - readers were fitted, logging readings were taken to detect leaks for 5 customers and 2 customers' meters are being linked to Building Management System so that water consumption can be monitored at all times. Since September Bristol has logged 40 trade users and shared the information with them.		Sponsored a University student to carry out a domestic water use survey of both measured and unmeasured households (2,000 questionnaires were issued and 766 customers' responded).

Water Company	Metering	Cistern	Grey water & water efficient homes	Garden watering	Audits	Education & information	Other
Bournemouth & W. Hants	Company intends to take steps to establish a better medium /long term monitoring program of metering.				Strategy for home water audits is currently being assessed in light of their own and other company experiences, and the water efficient group at Water UK.		Setting up a database of people participating in the promotion of water saving devices to enable monitoring of the impact of water efficient strategies. The company continues to monitor changes in per capita consumption.
Cambridge	Customer feedback survey was undertaken 910,257 questionnaires 34% response rate; 64% of customers considered metering was the fairest option - Results in JR99	Nov 1998 customer survey to gauge the effectiveness of the hippo bag was conducted - Results in JR99. A random survey of the consumption of 50 metered properties (savings of 40 l/prop/day achieved after fitting hippos) - Results in JR99. A further review of metered consumption and the effect of Hippos is planned for 1999 - No date for results.					Developed a water efficient database to monitor activity levels e.g. number of visits made - No date for results.
Dee Valley		Company will be looking at systems to report on savings achieved from cistern devices in future returns.					Measures household bills quarterly and believes this allows customers to monitor consumption more closely than other companies. Considering how to monitor the impact of water efficient initiatives.

Water Company	Metering	Cistern	Grey water & water efficient homes	Garden watering	Audits	Education & information	Other
Essex & Suffolk			In partnership with BRE, Plume Housing Assoc. and Bovis is funding a project to trial Weff measures and grey water recycling in 37 new homes, Essex. Houses were built 1998 and occupied by Oct. - Project began in Feb '99 and will continue for 14 months.		Second watersmart household audit initiative completed in Suffolk (1,878 household audits conducted; still analysing postal survey). - Summary results in JR99, awaiting full copy of results. Resurveyed first Eaga watersmart pilot zone, one year on (involved a short postal survey; results suggest overall measures are still effective) - Summary results in JR99, full results awaited. Self-audit leaflets sent to four DMAs (1,027), aim was to discover whether customers would carry out a home audit - Summary of results in JR99. Waterfall programme (50% audit subsidy, 7 taken up and savings of 0.4 Ml/d was achieved) - Results in JR99.	General survey on customer attitudes on water efficiency: 17% of customers surveyed suggested using a hippo to save water - Results in JR99	Engineering in Education Scheme with the support of one of Essex & Suffolk's water engineers is involved with three local schools where students are investigating water consumption patterns, methods of reducing use, recycling and water re-use - No date for results. In Dec1998 Essex & Suffolk commissioned a research project to provide the company with information on their customers' awareness, practices and attitudes to using water efficiency in the home - No date for results.
Folkestone & Dover		Customer survey on the water saving potentials of the Hippo (consumption of 74 metered properties measured, savings of 10 l/prop/day) - Results received. A second customer survey on the effectiveness of the Hippo is planned for 1999 - No date for results.			DIY home audit- analysed a sample of 100 metered customers where before and after consumption data was available. Savings of 3.11m3/annum were achieved after audits - Results in JR99.
Hartlepool	No specific monitoring, but is now part of Anglian Water

Water Company	Metering	Cistern	Grey water & water efficient homes	Garden watering	Audits	Education & information	Other
Mid Kent		Company trials on Hippos in selected DMAs in Jan1998 reported customers having difficulties in installing devices with double flushing - Results received.
North Surrey							Customer survey (Nov1998) provided customers with a water audit questionnaire, quiz, offer of a free prize draw, but disappointing response rate - JR99. Monitoring of consumption for company in head office water use - No date for results.
Portsmouth				Installation of waterbutts at a sample of consumption monitor sites - Savings will be reported in JR2000.			Will carry out further research using domestic consumption monitoring to try to quantify the benefits of water efficient initiatives i.e. comparison of water efficient homes and the control group - Results should be available Dec 2000.

Water Company	Metering		Cistern	Grey water & water efficient homes	Garden watering	Audits	Education & information	Other
South East				16 grey-water recycling units were fitted to properties in a Barnardo's Home project, Tunbridge Wells, the development is not yet complete - No date for results.		Watersmart audit - company is still evaluating the results carried out by watersmart. No date for results. Water efficiency audits were carried out at the company head office, and consumption was reduced by 15% - Results in JR99. Audit at a caravan park of 30 cistern devices showed consumption reduction of 30% - The site will be revisited to address the issue of sustainability, no date for results. 13 commercial audits carried out, properties will be re-visited in the next 6 months to establish the impact on consumption - No date for results.
South Staffordshire			Company has been observing industry research on cistern devices and will undertake a controlled trial to monitor the effect of devices during 1999/00	Infrastructure charges waived for a trial period for developers if they install grey water recycling units in domestic properties. A mailshot was sent to 16 housing developers in 1998, 19 systems have been installed - No date for results Green futures demonstration project. Second phase of development due to commence mid 1999, subject to funding. In discussion with a housing developer to install and monitor the effectiveness of grey water recycling units in 39 flats being refurbished.		Follow up telephone calls (29) on recommendations made to 334 businesses to save water, resulted in 28% of business customers confirming that they had taken up advice and implemented measures - Results in JR99.

 

Water Company	Metering	Cistern		Grey water & water efficient homes	Garden watering	Audits	Education & information	Other
Sutton & East Surrey	MORI survey of customer attitudes from switching from unmeasured to measured - Results in JR99.	A study into the effectiveness of Hippos - Results received.		In discussion with a national house builder for the development of houses with re-cycling units				The company will be looking at ways of minimising losses from its treatment works, raw water mains, trunk mains and service reservoirs.
Tendring Hundred	Customer attitudes towards metering (MORI survey) - Results received.
Three Valleys			New Deal Task Force has recorded the installation of Hippos in over 90% of properties visited - Results are due shortly.	Working with Crest Homes. Fitted 7 houses with recycled water systems, occupied in late 1998. The occupiers take regular readings from meters - No date for results. 2 estates in Shenley have been fitted with weff devices in the home and garden. In Lawns estate, water efficient garden appliances were installed. In the Pavilions estate, houses are fitted with low water use spray taps. The perception of homeowners toward the re-use of water in the pavilions area is being assessed - No date for results. 12 properties have been fitted with weff and energy appliances, as well as remote data logging meters attached to all hot and cold water use areas nr. Saffron Walden. The Housing Assoc. will be evaluating water use info collected - No date for results.		New Deal Task Force carried out 1,000 household audits - Results due shortly.		Company is reviewing a water use study of 1,800 unmeasured and measured customers (4th year) to identify improvements to differentiate effects of water measures - No date for results.
Water Company	Metering		Cistern	Grey water & water efficient homes	Garden watering	Audits	Education & information	Other
York	Customer survey on metering attitudes July 1998 of 300 customers; 47% of customers supported metering sprinklers - Results in JR99.							Customer satisfaction surveys on using water wisely revealed that 74% of customers thought that enough information on using water wisely was provided but only 11% of customers were aware of any initiatives promoting the efficient use of water - Results in JR99.

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