Businesses and organisations are being encouraged to make water one of their weekly checks, where possible, to help with the challenges from running costs this year.

Businesses say that just by noting their water use more often in a year they’ve seen benefits, with nearly 27% saving water and almost 40% saying it’s helped with budgeting, in results from a survey this year.*

Some of those responding to the survey by Water Plus, which is a sben member with its main office in Staffordshire, said they’d also saved energy, through using less hot water.*

Water Plus, the largest water retailer in the UK and a winner of two National Sustainability Awards, in October 2022 and a UK Customer Satisfaction Award in March 2023, including for its work helping organisations to reduce water waste, is highlighting water efficiency and water pipe messages, to help organisations of all sizes.

It’s under their #BeWiseOnWater awareness campaign, including providing information on its online Help area here – and on its business social media channels.

Mark Taylor, Advanced Services Operations Manager in England and one of the water experts at Water Plus, said: “While regular checks on water at sites is important for businesses, small and large, even something simple like a tap aerator can cut hot and cold water use significantly, reducing both water and energy costs. A dripping tap may appear to be a small issue, which is easy to look at another time – though all of those drips add up to further costs, measured through water meters. We’re raising awareness to help organisations keep bills and running costs low, particularly this financial year, by sharing the signs to look out for under our Be Wise On Water awareness-raising approach.

“Water efficiency may sound like something that would be expensive, or maybe complicated, though it’s basically about being more aware of water use at a business, or other building and is all about reducing the water bill – plus the survey shows it really does pay to note meter reads more often, where it’s safe to, during a year and has saved businesses energy too.”

A rugby club cut its water use by 36%, on peak use days in 2022, from changing just a few small things, including water efficient taps, showerheads and flow restrictors on pipes.

Noting down meter readings regularly, if the meter is safe to access and providing these online, is also worth doing to track use and spot any unexpected changes. Providing meter readings to water retailers during a year also reduces estimated bills, helping with cost control, particularly in this financial year.

Customers with Water Plus can submit meter readings quickly – at any time – online. For customers registered for the MyAccount online portal, see your emails for a link to do this, or go to the Water Plus website homepage here – and scroll down to select “Submit a meter reading”.

To request data loggers, or additional water efficiency services, contact the Water Plus team at: hello@water-plus.co.uk and include “Sben” in the email subject heading.

More on steps organisations can take to reduce water waste, reduce future running costs and lower Greenhouse Gas emissions under Scopes 1, 2 and 3, can be found on the Future Net Zero website at: www.futurenetzero.com/category/water-plus-thought-leadership/  .

Be a water-saving whizz and reduce waste with these top 5 tips:

1. Locate your stop taps – at your site and at home too – and check they’re working, so you can isolate a burst pipe – or water issue – quickly.
2. Take a meter reading each month, if it’s safe to access, and make checks on your site/community building regularly – even if it’s closed – to look out for leaks – it’s worth encouraging people who use your building, or security staff, to report leaks, as well as dripping taps and constantly running urinals or toilets, as these can waste hundreds of litres of water a day.
3. Turn taps off after use to cut water waste. Did you know that a running tap uses around 6 litres of water a minute? That’s equal to more than 18 cans of fizzy drink.
4. Have you got a water emergency plan for your site/s? Knowing what to do and where you can get water, if it stopped suddenly, is essential to limit the impact on your

* 26.9% out of 78 responses said looking at their water use more often had helped them save water, with the example on the question given of spotting a water leak. Responses to survey from Feb 2023 and March 2023. 39.7% of the 78 said it was helping them budget and 2% said it’d saved them energy (with the example of the question of by using less hot water) and 70% had seen a benefit of reading their water meter more often. Survey with small and medium-sized organisations.

Rugby club water-saving confirmed from water meter data in July 2022.

Water Plus provides water and wastewater services for organisations in England and Scotland, including billing, customer service and water efficiency advice for the most customer water supplies points in England – 718,610 supply point Ids (SPIDs) as of data published 1^st May 2023.