WATEF Blog Archive

In March 2018 we effectively faced a major drought occurring within the space of several days – we need to have much greater engagement with customers in order to deal with all resilience issues and water efficiency is a key aspect of this.

Five years ago, I was a (very stressed) research student searching for data: domestic water consumption data from an adequate number of homes in the UK that would help me answer the question – Do water efficiency programmes in the UK lead to a decrease in domestic water demand and if so, how much water is being saved?

Adnams have introduced new technology into our brewery and distillery to reduce both water and energy consumption. This is a huge chapter in our sustainability story – our distillery water consumption should reduce by about half and our energy (and carbon emissions) will reduce by around 15%.

You’ve probably heard about the energy trilemma. Well, the water sector is facing its own trilemma: it needs to allocate increasingly scarce resources of water among citizens, the economy and the environment if it’s to avoid a damaging conflict between them.

When I was a child, I used to observe all the antiques my parents had around the house. I particularly liked some objects that were, in fact, the bathroom of my great grandparents (Fig. 1) and never thought that the nowadays bathroom, that I always took for granted, could have been so different. Around the same time, I remember to find very awkward that my grandmother used to have a small “p....