How ‘Enabling Water Smart Communities’ can unlock the tension between water scarcity and economic growth 

The latest estimates on water resources suggest a serious shortfall is coming. Representing dire consequences for the government’s plans to build new homes, an Ofwat Innovation project could position water as an enabler of growth. George Warren of Anglian Water tells us more.

With climate change biting and a growing population, pressure on water resources is increasing. Following an official review of water company water resources management plans, England faces a shortfall of over 4.8 billion litres per day by 2050 if nothing is done. That’s 0.8 billion litres up from the last estimate.

In the near term, water is already putting the brakes on housing development and wider economic growth. We’re seeing this play out in Cambridgeshire. The government’s spring statement included ‘the case for Cambridge’, a plan to create Europe’s answer to Silicon Valley, building 500,000 news homes and growing the economy by approximately £6.4 billion.

But Cambridgeshire sits within one of the driest regions of England and the Environment Agency has warned that further pumping of water resources for new homes would threaten the region’s rivers. In response the government is developing guidance to ensure that any new developments are ‘water neutral’.

Several more water resource zones across the country are coming into deficit, making the government’s target of delivering 300,000 homes per year across England a real challenge. And it's not just water scarcity: more frequent flooding and water quality pressures (from more sewer connections) are also putting the brakes on housing growth.

Enabling Water Smart Communities

Organisations from across the water and development sectors have clubbed together under an Owat Innovation project to tackle the housing-water challenge. The ‘Enabling Water Smart Communities’ (EWSC) project is turning the issue on its head by considering how water can in fact be an enabler of growth.

There are many definitions of a ‘water smart community’, but essentially, it’s delivering new development that harnesses and uses water in the most sustainable manner for the communities who live there. ‘Water smart communities’ can be enablers of new housing through reducing pressure on water resources, flood risk and water pollution.

The project vision is ‘Rethinking whole-life water stewardship to accelerate the adoption of integrated water management, supporting communities and the environment to thrive’.

EWSC’s ‘Discovery Phase’ in 2023 looked widely to build a clear understanding of the operational context for water smart communities - identifying challenges, opportunities and generating insights and recommendations for potential new ways of working to mainstream water smart communities. The outputs from the Discovery Phase are on the new EWSC platform, which is inviting comment and debate from outside the project partnership.

EWSC has now moved into a ‘Delivery Phase’, which is progressing ‘enabling actions’ to overcome the current barriers and develop much needed guidance and tools for key actors including developers, architects, water companies and local planning authorities.

Enabling water reuse

One of the ‘enabling actions’ is around water reuse systems at a community level. Rainwater capture and water reuse at a housing development scale is potentially quicker to deliver, more cost effective, and likely to be less carbon intensive than larger water resources schemes such as desalination plants and reservoirs.

Water reuse requires a dual pipe system: one potable water system for drinking and washing, and one reuse system for practices such as toilet flushing, garden watering and clothes washing.

But there are some inherent challenges with delivering 'dual pipe' systems to homes – including the potential for misconnections between potable and non-potable systems, and also uncertainty around the costs and practicalities associated with installing them.

So, EWSC is developing a detailed roadmap to help water companies navigate some of these issues. This will include guidance on standardised materials for reuse systems; how to put in place a safety plan for ‘reclaimed water’; and details of the capacity and capabilities that companies will need to accrue to deliver such systems. The process of developing the road map will help identify further gaps that will need addressing to fully mainstream water smart communities.

EWSC is also exploring the expected cost uplift associated with incorporating reuse systems into new housing developments, to help make the business case for rolling out reuse at scale.

The project is collating evidence of costs for water collection, treatment and water distribution – both external and internal to properties. Water collection will cover both stormwater harvesting through the use of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), and the collection of greywater from showers and wash basins.Treatment costs will draw on criteria and assumptions from experience with rainwater harvesting and greywater recycling systems. For external distribution networks, the project is gathering cost data from the redesign of several developments of varying scales and densities. For internal pipework, it's looking into pipe layouts for a range of different house types.

This will provide much-needed evidence for ambitious water efficiency policies in Local Plans and will help make the business case to developers and water companies for progressing reuse systems at scale.

Beyond the physical

Whilst getting water reuse systems delivered and working is important, EWSC is wary of an over-emphasis on physical, owned ‘assets’. Non-physical assets such as knowledge, skills, jobs, digital services are crucial for mainstreaming water smart communities, as are the right incentives, regulations, governance arrangements and social practices.

Indeed, one of the key challenges for delivering water reuse systems are regulations which require water companies to provide only water of ‘wholesome quality’ to residential properties which is currently interpreted as meaning potable water quality, whatever the use. This precludes companies from supplying treated stormwater or greywater to homes for activities such as flushing.

EWSC is gathering evidence and engaging with Defra to see how this regulatory barrier can be overcome.

The EWSC framework

Recognising the need to look beyond physical assets, the project has developed a framework which harnesses three enabling principles for water smart communities: value, assets and stewardship. Through explorations of existing water smart community initiatives, it emerged that each of these building blocks must be in place for a water smart community to exist and thrive.

Assets can be physical and non-physical, and those which are owned and which are not. It’s not possible to think about assets without also thinking about the values they deliver and the necessary stewardship to ensure these values endure.

Values are critical to unlocking water smart communities. They shape the direction and priorities for action beyond ‘must do’ obligations towards the voluntary ‘could or should do’ action. Values vary for different groups, and it’s important to understand differences and where there are shared values that multiple stakeholders can align with to deliver greater overall benefit.

Stewardship is essential for looking after water as a common good. It underpins the enabling of water smart communities by ensuring the components of values and assets endure.

The three building blocks of EWSC are highly interlinked and operate at different levels of system complexity. When considered together they can unlock enabling actions within a complex delivery environment, across multiple scales.

The situation in Cambridge has certainly highlighted the need for future development to consider a more sustainable approach to the management of water. Fortunately, the EWSC project is well on its way to helping housing development do this by identifying and addressing some of the most pressing issues that should enable this to occur.

George Warren is Integrated Water Manager at Anglian Water Services and a Susdrain 2020 UK SuDS Champion.