In the UK we are complacent about our water. Our water is cheaper than in many countries and only 22% of domestic properties are metered. It is a tradition for our European neighbours to mock us for our wet summers. Yet in fact the UK is classified as a country with insufficient water. With population growth and therefore the need for more housing, demand for water is rising. Madrid and Istanbul have more water available per person than London.
During November 2009. Chris Smith, Rt. Hon. Lord Smith of Finsbury, Chairman of the Environment Agency, speaking at the Cumberland Lodge conference "Hope in the Built Environment" endorsed the need for storage and re-use of rainwater. Lord Smith presented a coherent and positive picture of the UKís measures to mitigate the effect of global warming. He confirmed the projections of the experts that temperatures will go up between 2 & 4 degrees Celsius before the next century, leading to floods, droughts, sea levels rising by up to one hundred metres, irreversible alterations to agricultural output and population movement as it searches for water (for instance to a country like the United Kingdom). Even earlier, by 2030, UK rivers flows will be down by 50 to 80%. He reiterated that, under these circumstances, water is now a limited resource.
Lord Smith's position greatly encourages home owners and commercial property developers to install rainwater harvesting, that is, the collection of rainwater from roofs and its storage for flushing toilets, washing clothes and watering gardens. Because almost all of the rain which falls in the United Kingdom is wasted as it flows into the sea (less than 1% is collected by waterboards to purify, chlorinate and pipe to users), it is sensible to collect and utilise the water off your own roof. State-of-the-art rainwater systems, self-cleaning leaf filters, underground tanks where the cool temperature inhibits bacterial action and water discolouration, low- or zero-electrical-use pumps and equipment tags of only £1500-£3000 for a home now make rainwater harvesting the most cost effective of the available eco-products. Property owners reduce their water bill by up to 50%, reduce their mains water use by about 50% and look to decreasing their unnecessary use of water... a scarce resource.
Chris Smith discussed the Code For Sustainable Homes which councils are using to oblige new-builds to fit, as part of a points-scoring range of eco-features, rainwater harvesting as a condition of planning permission. He acknowledged that the government's stance is more "stick" than "carrot" and he regretted that the Treasury continues to resist the reduction of VAT on rainwater equipment.
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