Southern Water to retailers: partner with us on water efficiency

Southern Water took the innovative step last week of hosting a meeting for water retailers to explore how water efficiency partnerships in the new market environment might work.

The wholesaler is keen for the new competitive arrangements not to disadvantage its ongoing work with non household customers, particularly schools, to promote water efficiency and resilience. It hosted an event on Wednesday, open to all retailers, to see how best to work with them on delivering these important messages to customers, as well as to offer a number of “partnership initiatives”. These included customer engagement activities (community talks, education packs and water saving visits) and water efficient products for customers (subsidised water butts, low water toilets, waterless urinals and grey water recycling).

Southern faces acute water supply pressures: both burgeoning demand from buoyant economic and population growth in the south; and environmental supply constraints. The event programme featured detailed presentations on Southern’s water resources position, water efficiency work to date and new initiatives including the potential reuse of water discharged from its state of the art Peacehaven wastewater works.

For more details, see October’s THE WATER REPORT