Towards a water smart future

29 April 2026

As the Enabling Water Smart Communities project winds up and hands over to a newly created Water Smart Growth Board, Catherine Moncrieff explains why she’s optimistic about the future of sustainable, resilient housebuilding

Since Labour came to power in 2024, CIWEM’s policy team have been preoccupied with how to square the government’s desire for growth with restoring our water environment and ensuring plentiful clean water. How do we build the 1.5 million homes the country needs, while treading as lightly as possible on the water environment, and increasing resilience to climate change?

This has seemed particularly challenging given the government’s stated aim to 'build baby build', seemingly at whatever cost to the environment. 'Bulldoze the blockers' is not a narrative that invites nuanced discussion.

Yet there are lots of hopeful words being bandied around in various policy papers and documents. The government’s water white paper, A New Vision for Water, for example, says that "improvements in water efficiency will need to go hand in hand with an increase in household water reuse and rainwater management". It also commits to looking at ways to drive reuse and rainwater use for large non-household developments and water users.

And there’s mention of shifting focus towards "pre-pipe" solutions such as rainwater management, including sustainable drainage systems (SuDS). Meanwhile, the recently launched Land Use Framework makes some visionary sounding claims about towns and cities that will, by 2050, "absorb rainwater through greener, more permeable streets, roofs and gardens".

But will any of this really stick and lead to the sustainable, resilient homes and developments that are vital for our prosperity?

Well, I think so. Read on to learn why I’m optimistic and how you can contribute to ‘water smart’ growth.

Water smart communities

CIWEM has been closely involved in Enabling Water Smart Communities (EWSC), an innovation project focused on addressing the joint challenges faced by the water and housing sectors. EWSC’s analysis indicates that around 60,000 homes in the south and east of England could be delayed over the course of this parliament because there isn’t enough water available. Reinforcing this, a 2025 report by House Builder’s Federation (HBF) indicates that 30,000 homes are being delayed by a lack of capacity in wastewater systems.

The central tenet of EWSC is that new development must be 'water smart'. That means water being central to the design of a place, and communities being integral to its placemaking and long-term stewardship. It means issues of water scarcity, flooding and pollution being tackled in an integrated way. Water smart is the use of localised, nature-based solutions that allow rainwater and greywater to be considered a resource.

These solutions avoid pouring concrete and emitting carbon to store and pump water over vast distances. The benefits are huge: as well as being able to unblock the homes we need and address climate resilience, this approach provides communities with attractive amenities, boosts health and wellbeing, and is a boon for biodiversity too. Check out the project’s explainer video on water smart communities:

Analysis by EWSC indicates that if high quality sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) were delivered across the planned 1.3 million new homes in this parliament, this would uplift the value of homes by £3.1 billion. To achieve this utopia, the project has been systematically unblocking the barriers to water smart homes, with the aim of mainstreaming the concept in all new housing developments. Barriers, real and perceived, include the costs to developers of installing features such as rainwater harvesting and SuDS; regulations preventing non-potable water being supplied to homes; the issue of who adopts and maintains such systems; and, crucially, who pays for it all. I wouldn’t suggest that the project has solved them all, but it’s certainly moved the dial considerably on many of these issues. Check out some of the project’s one-pagers.

An open door

The Enabling Water Smart Communities project is coming to an end in June. At its close-out stakeholder event at the end of March, the energy and enthusiasm for change was palpable – from across government, housing and water and environment sectors.

Martin Woolhead, deputy director for water services at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), remarked that the issue of water and growth was having its moment, and that EWSC had opened the door with the government. “You’ve got a perfectly timed piece of work,” he said. Others, including Tom Dollard, chair of the Good Homes Alliance, and Harry Leeder at Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), noted the convening power of the project to bring different sectors together to come up with solutions.

A pathway ahead

Even as EWSC started, the team were very cognisant that its objectives and actions would not just end in 2026. We’ve been considering its legacy from day one.

With that in mind, the closing event saw the launch of a cross‑sector Water Smart Growth Board (WSGB), linked to the government’s Water Delivery Taskforce. Bringing together leaders from the water and building sectors, the new board’s purpose is to achieve sustainable housing growth through integrated water management, taking forwards the work EWSC.

Launch of the Water Smart Growth Board with representatives from Thakeham, Defra, EWSC, Future Homes Hub and CIWEM.

Rob Boughton, chief executive of the homebuilder Thakeham and co‑chair of the new WSGB (with Defra as the other co-chair), said: “Developers, government and the water sector have a shared responsibility to deliver sustainable communities. The WSGB creates a forum for collaboration and practical delivery. By working together in areas like water efficiency, reuse and SuDS, we can unlock housing growth whilst protecting and improving our water resources.”

Already the WSGB has had its first meeting and work is underway through an ‘implementation group’ to develop solutions for tackling wastewater capacity challenges.

A community of change – which needs you

Whilst the board will provide direction and bring forward solutions, central to its setup is a Community of Practice rooted in the group of stakeholders and changemakers that has been developed through EWSC. This Community of Practice will support the board with evidence and solutions identified by those on the ground; and also act as a vehicle to share knowledge and embed best practice in water smart growth. It will be led by CIWEM as part of our aim to progress practice in the WEM sector and link this with supportive policy.

So I’m pretty optimistic. The ambition for water smart development is clear and we know from case studies explored through EWSC that it is technically possible. We are addressing the barriers for change, and the government’s door is open for bold ideas in relation to water and growth. Challenges remain, but we have a cross-sector vehicle for working through them with government and key stakeholders.

It needs to be grounded in evidence, and we need a group of changemakers to show how it can be done and identify what’s working and what’s not. It’s going to require a movement of people coalescing for change: developers, government, water managers, environmentalists… including you!

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Catherine Moncrieff is head of policy and engagement at CIWEM