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But we need smart metering. We do not want a meter stuck somewhere down in the front garden where you cannot see it. You need to be able to look at a meter in your house, just as we argued with electricity and gas, so you can see how much you are consuming at that time and how much you have consumed over the past day or so. We want smart billing that will show people how much they use in comparison with previous years and how much others of the same sized household use. Figure 5 on page 79 gives a very telling example of what a smart bill might
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We also need to look at the demand side for water. Of those 150 litres only 10 per cent is required for drinking or for preparing food that we eat—for potable uses; 25 per cent goes down the lavatory, which is why dual-flush systems are important. Others have told me that there are siphon systems, which use, instead of the seven litres that you flush down the lavatory, only something like two litres. So it is vitally important for us to try to develop ways to economise on the water we use. Thirty-three per cent of water goes on personal washing. Here there is the whole question that power showers do not actually save anything over baths. Can we develop showers, and other countries have managed to do this, which are more efficient? Twenty per cent goes on clothes and dish washing. Modern machines can be much less efficient, but why do the Government suggest that it is impossible to have some kind of scheme that labels these machines just as we have with energy efficiency? They seem to suggest that it is impossible; that we will have to start from scratch. We already have a very good scheme on energy efficiency.
In terms of garden use, why cannot we do like the Australians and make far more use of rain water? The example we quote from Australia shows that above all where there is a will there is a way. Sadly, what emerges from the Government and Ofwat’s response to our recommendations is that we have yet to find the will. As the energy sector has shown already so clearly, once awareness is raised people respond to incentives and, indeed, often to community pressures. At present, both the Government and Ofwat seem to be far too complacent about the potential risks of water shortage and not prepared to take the necessary lead in raising awareness.
1.39 pm
Lord Lewis of Newnham: My Lords, first, I thank the noble Earl, Lord Selborne, for the excellent way in which he chaired the committee. It was indeed a great pleasure to be a member of such a committee with such efficiency being projected. In addition, I pay tribute to the Clerk of the inquiry, Tom Wilson, who gave a very effective summary and report of the complex deliberations involved in the inquiry. We were very fortunate to have the expert advice of Professor Ashley, whose experience in water matters is very extensive and appropriate to the study.
I also take this opportunity to say welcome to my noble friend Lord Crisp. His speech was absolutely bang-on and I look forward to the opportunity of seeing him in operation when he can be a little more controversial on some topics for which I am sure that he has deep feeling.
I became involved in the problems of water management when I chaired the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution from 1986 to 1988. The topic was water purity. Many of the problems
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The major development in the water industry was privatisation in 1989, which, as has been discussed by the noble Earl, has led to a great increase in investment in the water industry—which, I may say, has been necessary. The present report indicates that one of the significant problems now facing the water industry is water shortage, which appears to have occurred in many parts of the country. However, that is mainly a localised problem and must be dealt with on a local rather than a national basis. The problem of water shortage is often associated with specific areas of the country and may vary from year to year. The variation in location may be attributed to a variety of factors, including rainfall, geological effects and population density and growth.
The south-east is of particular concern as that area is under stress for water supply and—as has been said by several Members—is attracting a projected growth of the order of about a million new homes. That position has been further accentuated by a decrease in the average household size and an increased usage of water-intensive appliances in the household, as well as the leakage problem, which we have discussed. In a recent report by University College in London, it was estimated that, by 2006, 38 per cent of UK housing will be single occupancy. On average, a decrease in occupancy from two to one increases the water demand per capita by 40 per cent. So, within a static population, there will be a significant increase in water demand.
I now refer to the latest statistics, which appeared yesterday, on population growth during the next 25 years. The population growth for London will be roughly 20 per cent. It is interesting to note that the density of population in England is 383 people per square kilometre, while the corresponding figure for Europe is 117. That accentuates the London problem. It is also important to recognise that rainfall—I understand the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, about the dangers of interpolation of rainfall data—is projected to fall by 60 per cent by 2080.
The recent analysis of water requirements carried out by the Government for additional houses, which are mainly to be built in the south-east of England, does not appear to include some of those points. I remind the House that the analysis noted that the extra increase of 200,000 houses, to which the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, just referred, would increase demand by only 0.1 per cent because they would not be occupied by “new people”. That appears to ignore the effect of the increase in the population, its relocation and the decrease in the size of house occupancy.
The reticence of the Government directly to involve water companies in the housing developments is difficult to understand and is certainly counter to
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The water demand in England and Wales is expected to increase by 12 per cent by 2030, and will place further pressure on water companies. In part, to solve this water crisis, companies, particularly in the south-east, are projected to build five new reservoirs and extend three of the existing ones in the next 25 years. There is also a plan to build two desalination plants, but, as the noble Earl has remarked, this is more controversial. Building these, however, would lead to only a 6 per cent increase in water availability—still leaving us with this balance of 6 per cent to be found. As we discuss in the report, it is clear that efforts must be made to lower water consumption, and, as approximately half is consumed in the domestic sphere, the use of water-efficient fixtures and fittings in homes, the reuse of water and the metering of water supplies must be given top priority in any government measures to deal with this problem.
It is interesting to note that, in the OECD area, only two countries—Ireland and the UK—do not go in for universal metering. I find that very surprising. In a section on water problems in a recent Sustainable Development Commission review, which was authored by Professor Anne Power of University College—it is interesting to note that a large number of reviews on water are now appearing—attention was drawn to the fact that the bulk of the consideration on saving in water is applied to new buildings, with little research or policy activity on water consumption in existing buildings. As new buildings are roughly only 5 per cent of the total build, a major problem lies with the older stock.
The article claims that savings in water usage of about 30 per cent may be achieved in old houses. It points out, for example, that kitchens and bathrooms are refitted every seven to 15 years. These rooms contain the majority of water-consuming appliances, and some form of regulation on water-efficient replacements could reduce water usage considerably. The use of such appliances could be encouraged by fiscal incentives such as reduced rates of VAT on efficient fittings and appliances. Some form of labelling indicating the water efficiency of appliances, as the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, suggested, should also be implemented. As she pointed out, such a system applies to energy but, for some reason that I find incomprehensible, it does not apply to water as a whole.
It is pleasing to note that the water industry has instituted a new independent body called waterwise, which will offer advice on water conservation and efficiency. The main emphasis on savings in water
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I agree in general terms with the sentiment expressed in particular by the noble Lord, Lord Mitchell, that the government reply to the report is rather negative. With the exception of the metering problem, which admittedly they now seem to be taking on board, they do not appear to have given very favourable responses to the bulk of the recommendations.
Finally, I am concerned about what appears to be the attitude of Defra, at least as it is expressed in the environmental press, to the next development in water management. This is the one proposed by the European Union in the Water Framework Directive. The directive requires member states to achieve good ecological status in all water bodies by 2015 and is based on a river basin analysis of water management focusing on the delivery of an integrated approach between the various water management priorities. It is not a new concept for water management and, indeed, was a suggestion put forward by the royal commission in the 1980s, based on the deliberations of the then National Rivers Authority for management of water distribution on an integrated river basin management or catchment system. To me that is a much more logical way of looking at water problems.
The directive permits member states to adopt alternative objectives that may delay improvement until 2027. A guidance publication on river basin planning issued this September by Defra states that the agency should make full use of this alternative in the directive—that is, delay until 2027. But the European Commission has warned the Environment Agency and the water industry not to rely on receiving extensions allowing more time to meet the directive. The completion date should be viewed as 2015 rather than 2027 other than for exceptional problems. There is no doubt that the directive poses some large problems, but it is important that the Government should attempt to attain completion on the projected timescale and are not seen to be dragging their feet on the date for completion by encouraging the Environment Agency to consider delaying until 2027.
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1.52 pm
Lord Howie of Troon: My Lords, I join in the congratulations which have been heaped on the heads of the noble Earl, Lord Selborne, our Clerk and our adviser, as well as my colleagues on the committee. I especially enjoyed the speech made by my noble friend Lord Mitchell a short time ago. I am delighted to see such a self-confessed unrepentant capitalist sitting on this side of the House. Our party has perhaps moved further than I had thought since I joined it around 50 years ago. I also enjoyed his company on our visit to Australia last February. It was the height of the Australian summer so I took my lightest clothing because I expected great heat. During the week we were there, it rained every day except one—not heavily, but it rained. That may have explained the gardens, which so impressed my noble friend.
This is a good report and I endorse almost all of it, but I am going to depart from the general mood of the debate by mildly dissenting on two or possibly three items. Again, I dissent mildly because I think the report is good. First, I make a pedantic point, which may come from my being a lapsed Presbyterian. We harp on about drought. We do not have a drought in this country. You have droughts in places like the Kalahari desert or in Oklahoma in the late 1930s. What we have is a serious water shortage in some parts of country and adequate supplies in others. For instance, 10 or so days ago I was on the Island of Mull, where they do not have a water shortage. I am told that the soft highland rain makes your hair curl; it does not seem to work. “Drought” excites journalists, but they over-estimate its effects and so perhaps we should talk about “water shortages”.
I mildly dissent from the committee in that I think we were unduly dismissive of the possibilities of a water grid. People have been pushing water around for domestic and commercial purposes for centuries. For instance, Hammurabi, who invented my profession of civil engineering in Mesopotamia in the 7th century BC, built dams, water canals and so on to drive water for Babylon and Baghdad, which were then the greatest cities in the world. So there is no technical problem about building a pipeline, which would probably be combined with tunnel and canal. Fifty-odd years ago, when I was a young civil engineer in Glasgow, I designed a pipeline to bring water to a tin mine in Malaya, as it then was. So if I could handle it, I am quite sure almost anyone else could. The water in southern California comes from the Rocky Mountains in Nevada, hundreds of miles away.
People tell us that water is heavy stuff—which it is; I think a cubic metre of water weighs about a tonne—and that when it has to be pumped it requires energy and so on. Oil is not as heavy as water—it floats on water because it is lighter—but it is pumped and piped from Alaska to the northern mid-west states in the United States, and from Russia to western Europe. So the feasibility of a water grid as a technical exercise is perfectly within the capabilities of the construction industry that we have in this country.
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The Environment Agency does not like it, but the Environment Agency does not like very much of this kind. We are not surprised that the Environment Agency does not like it; perhaps we should pay less heed to what it says.
The other item with which I dissent—albeit mildly—is that I think we were far too dismissive of the possibilities of desalination. I believe there are half-a-dozen schemes under consideration in this country and we know that there are at least 30 or so in Saudi Arabia which have been in operation for quite a long time. It seems to me that in the cases of both the grid and desalination we were over-impressed by thoughts of their effect on the environment, on energy use and on CO2 emissions.
I agree entirely with what the noble Lord, Lord Dixon-Smith, said about the environment in his extremely interesting contribution to the debate. We have to remember that this country’s contribution to global CO2 emissions is 2 per cent. Theoretically, if we could get rid of the whole of that, it would do two things: it would wreck our economy and make very little difference to global emissions. It is true that increased emissions would result from producing a pipeline or a desalination station, but they would be very small compared with the global problem. At a time when the Government are hoping to reduce our contribution to global emissions from 2 per cent to perhaps 1.5 per cent—that is not a target but an estimate of what they are likely to achieve—it would not matter terribly if they achieved 1.6 per cent rather than 1.5 per cent. That would be the likely effect of the increase resulting from desalination.
I think we were too timid there, but that did not prevent us producing a thoroughly worthwhile report, which deserved a much better response from the Government than it got.
2.1 pm
Lord Oxburgh: My Lords, I, too, begin by recognising the contribution of our special adviser, Professor Richard Ashley, and our Clerk, Tom Wilson. I pay particular tribute to our chairman, the noble Earl, Lord Selborne, for the good humour and dexterity with which he guided our deliberations. I also congratulate my noble friend Lord Crisp on his eloquent and, if I may say so, highly apposite maiden speech.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, civil engineering was responsible for enormous health improvements in our cities. Clean supplies of fresh water and the disposal of sewage in closed sewers simply transformed public health. The engineers of the day did this so successfully that for nearly a century it was easy for us to forget the enormity of their achievements. Over the intervening years, we have taken this infrastructure and the abundance of water that it provided so much for granted that we have failed to make the investment in maintenance and renewal that common sense would have dictated.
In recent decades, three factors have rather sharply drawn it to our attention that we have been living in a fool’s paradise. First, and most obviously, the
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Together, these considerations mean that not only do we have a water infrastructure that is failing through historic lack of investment but it is rapidly becoming inadequate in the south-east because of changes in climate and increases in water demand. Available water resources are finite, and if we draw on them too heavily we risk lasting damage to the environment.
I have sketched this picture to make it clear that we are entering, in the 21st century, uncharted territory. For that reason, it is particularly unfortunate that, as we point out in our report, water companies have great difficulty in finding money to pay for research programmes which would help them to do their job better and deal with new and unfamiliar situations.
In recent years, the annual expenditure by water companies on research and development has been around £20 million. That figure may be compared with an annual turnover of around £7 billion and, for that matter, the annual total of unpaid water bills of around £1 billion. Our committee regarded this level of research expenditure as inadequate. That view was shared by some of the companies, which drew attention to the pressure from the regulator to keep down near-term water prices to consumers. Frankly, this is a false economy. Some research is carried out by water companies, but most is carried out or commissioned by UK Water Industry Research, funded jointly by the companies. This is a very satisfactory approach, but it seems that programmes are limited by both the overall level of funding and uncertainty about its continuity.
It is worth considering some of the areas in which research can bring substantial benefits. Given that management and containment of leaks is one of the major challenges facing the industry, high on the list should be technologies for remotely inspecting pipework, the detection of leaks and lining of pipes. Work in areas such as these can be undertaken in collaboration with universities or industrial partners.
One of the most obvious approaches to water shortages is to make better use of the water that we have. This can involve purification and re-use of water. The committee visited one public building, in Melbourne, which, by employing this technology, would use only one one-tenth of the normal consumption for a building of this size.
Water purification technologies have been around for many years, but the challenge is to treat large volumes quickly and cost-effectively. This whole area is being transformed by the development of
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Water networks tend to be both extensive and complex and may receive water from a variety of sources. For reasons of both public health and security, it is important for water to be tested regularly to see whether it contains chemical impurities or pathogenic organisms. It is now becoming possible to carry out such tests remotely and for the results to be sent by telemetry to water management centres, where action may be taken quickly to respond to any problem.
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