Written evidence submitted by Plumb Center,
Wolseley UK
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. Wolseley UK welcomes the Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee inquiry into future flood
and water management legislation. Our response focuses on water
management and conservation, we make the following recommendations:
— A cross industry group with representatives
from government, utilities, manufacturers of water products and
their associated installers should be established.
— There are five practical initiatives
that should be introduced to help with water management and conservation.
Some of these measures were recommended in the Independent Review
Charging for Household Water and Sewerage Services, undertaken
by Anna Walker.
INTRODUCTION
2. Wolseley UK is the UK operating company
of Wolseley plc, the world's number one distributor of heating
and plumbing products and a leading supplier of builders' products
to the professional market. The company is wholly engaged in the
distribution of construction products and materials through a
nationwide branch network. The company is organised into trading
brands, which serves distinct customer groups.
3. This submission incorporates the views
of our trading brand Plumb Center—a specialist supplier
of domestic lightside products including central heating equipment,
plumbing, drainage, bathrooms and showers. It has more than 480
branches throughout the UK. The submission focuses on policies
which are required to ensure water management which delivers optimum
social, economic and environmental outcomes.
4. Wolseley UK welcomes the opportunity
to provide our views to the Committee on these issues, and would
be willing to give evidence to the Select Committee.
ESTABLISH A
CROSS INDUSTRY
GROUP
5. Against a backdrop of climate change,
water scarcity and increasing environmental pressures, we need
to be committed to minimising water use and to re-using and recycling
the water we do use. A cross industry group should be established
with representatives from government, utilities, manufacturers
of water products and their associated installers to help achieve
this. The group's purpose would be to promote a range of practical
initiatives, which it believes, could be extremely effective in
terms of making households in the UK more water efficient. The
group could play a key role in reducing water consumption and
improving water efficiency as well as being at the forefront of
the development of new sustainable technologies.
6. We believe that such a group would be
well placed to work with Government on ensuring that policy proposals
can be practically implemented and to maximum effect. It is our
view that the installer is key to the process.
7. By working more closely along the supply
chain we can share experience and data which would make a significant
difference in ensuring that water efficient products are purchased
and installed.
8. We recommend that the Committee seriously
considers the role of such a cross industry group to encourage
industry action in the use and promotion of water efficient initiatives
and products.
POLICY AGENDA
9. Energy issues seem to dominate the policy
agenda at the expense of water. Both policy makers and the wider
public need to better understand the critical issues associated
with water in the UK. The water industry is a major energy user,
and together with domestic hot water use, has a very significant
carbon impact. Saving water reduces emissions. Solutions are available
now and, in many cases, are relatively easy to retro-fit to existing
buildings at low capital costs.
10. We therefore support the recommendation
of the Walker review that a national campaign is needed to ensure
customers understand the challenges we face on the supply of water
and therefore the importance of water efficiency.
11. Wolseley UK calls on the Government
to work with industry to ensure that UK consumers are made aware
of the need to use water efficiently.
12. If a group is to be established we recommend
that it focuses on five initial initiatives:
(a) Recognise water as an equally important
resource as energy
We believe that the Government needs to raise
the importance of water conservation and educate the public on
its importance. We therefore agree with the Walker Review recommendation
that:
"a national campaign is needed to ensure
customers understand the challenges we face on the supply of water
and therefore the importance of water efficiency. The campaign
also should be closely allied with ongoing activity on energy
efficiency, so that households think about energy and water efficiency
at the same time."
We would welcome the development of a clear
and agreed message surrounding water efficiency, including the
impact on energy use, and believe that all group members support
this message in its market/customer communication.
(b) Standard
We believe it is crucial that the group should
define and implement an easy-to-understand water efficiency standard
for products and develop a roadmap for product labelling standards
which progressively restricts the installation of less efficient
devices. The Walker Review recommendations recognised the importance
of labeling, which should be considered by the Committee, stating
that:
"Government and the Welsh Assembly should
review the efficacy of current and proposed labelling schemes
and decide what information consumers need as a matter of priority.
The UK Government and Welsh Assembly Government should work with
Waterwise, water companies, the BMA, other manufacturers, stakeholders
and retailers to ensure voluntary schemes are effective. A mandatory
scheme should also be given consideration".
(c) Incentives
The group would help co-ordinate water efficiency
issues and ensure that water efficient measures are included in
incentive programmes like the Green Deal and CERT and that the
Enhanced Capital Allowances scheme is more widely promoted.
We therefore believe that the Committee should
consider the Walker review recommendations:
"where possible any energy efficiency
initiative should also include hot water efficiency objectives
and vice versa. Coordination between companies, regulators and
consumer bodies is critical [and] aligning work with energy efficiency
schemes, particularly exploiting synergies with existing refurbishment
and retrofitting programmes."
This would provide incentives for large scale
retro-fit programmes and alongside existing programmes is an extremely
cost effective way of addressing a hard to treat issue.
(d) Water metering
The group should work with other agencies and
bodies to help to accelerate the fitting of water meters with
locally available information to help consumers to understand
their water consumption and the direct impact of water using activities.
Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) should be extended to become
Resource Performance Certificates to include water use data.
Consideration should also be given to the introduction
of a water efficiency certificate (WEC) which would work in the
same way as an Energy Performance Certificate. This would help
encourage behavioural change in consumers.
(e) Educating the consumer
It is widely recognised within the plumbing
industry that the consumer is heavily influenced by guidance offered
by their plumber who visits their home to carry out repairs or
improvements. We therefore support the Walker Review team recommendation:
"working with plumbers and heating engineers
as an important route to encouraging more sustainable behaviour
and recommends that the UK Government, Welsh Assembly Government
and the proposed national water efficiency campaign consider how
plumbers and builders can help to promote water efficiency."
In today's market, guidance given by plumbers
and engineers is largely driven by economics and their experience
and typically they will recommend solutions with the lowest "up
front" cost rather than the most water efficient solution.
Working with agencies such as Waterwise we are seeking support
for a Government media campaign that highlights to homeowners
what water conserving options they have from simple initiatives,
such as replacing shower heads, through to harvesting systems.
The group would use our relationship with the
installer to execute the media campaign in both paper and electronic
form ultimately placing it at the heart of the plumbing industry's
sustainability marketing campaigns.
13. Wolseley UK calls on Government and
parliamentarians to support the industry in the implementation
of these low cost initiatives which we believe will improve water
management and conservation in Britain.
October 2010
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