‘How to avoid the water blind spot’ launched at our Future of Facilities Compliance event, aimed at helping senior leaders navigate the complex compliance landscape.
The paper highlights that while exposure to energy disruption is widely recognised, water scarcity, together with challenging water legislation and reduction targets, mean water should be given the same focus.
It sets out why water has pivoted from being an overlooked facility to become a key strategic issue – with the potential to negatively impact economic growth, continuity and investor confidence.
Notable points include:
- The Public First consultancy found housing stalled due to water scarcity would remove £25 billion from the economy, with lost tax revenue of £7 billion.
- The Environment Agency has warned England could face a shortfall of 5 billion litres of water a day by 2055.
- Government targets require commercial water use to reduce by 9% by 2028 and 15% by 2050 from 2019/20 baselines.
The report features expert contributions from leading figures in the water sector.
Sarah McMath, CEO of MOSL, the independent market operator for the non-household water retail market in England“It’s simple, you lose water, you lose revenue…The cost of not having water should be high on companies’ risk registers. The biggest resilience risk comes from not understanding what the risks are, or what you would do if things go wrong.”
Editor of The UK Water Report and MEUC Water Advisor, Karma Loveday, called for more help to enable organisations to upgrade to more sustainable systems.
Karma said: “A crucial issue for the industry is that the capital cost of investing in alternative systems often completely outweighs water bill savings…To my mind we need grants, tax relief of another incentive mechanism to support the shift to more sophisticated water systems.”
To find out more about water challenges, how they will impact your organisation and what to do about it, click below.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
How to avoid the water blind spot
For decades water has been treated as one of few certainties in business. But your
organisation could be more exposed to risk than you realise, facing significant yet unforeseen consequences.