Multiple interventions could help businesses beat water use targets

(by Karma Loveday)

By deploying a combination of interventions, non-household customers could be helped to save more water than specified in Environment Act targets.

That’s according to a report from Baringa, commissioned by the Strategic Panel and Retailer Wholesaler Group’s (RWG) Water Efficiency Subgroup on how to incentivise business customers to cut demand. This is part of a suite of work from the RWG on a Water Efficiency Roadmap.

Baringa identified eight actions and the associated potential water savings, as shown in the table above. It found that, while no single intervention would be sufficient alone, if deployed together, demand could be cut by 14% by 2038 (beating the 9% statutory target) and by 21% by 2050 (beating the 15% statutory target). The report noted: “Exceeding the current 15% target would provide the industry with necessary headroom to supply growing sectors of the economy, such as new homes and data centres.”

The report included a detailed implementation plan for each measure.