The document discusses the challenges facing UK water management, including increasing demand, decreasing supply due to climate change, and public unawareness of the issues. It proposes a "20:20 Challenge" to reduce individual daily water usage by 20 litres and water lost through leakages by 20%, which could save enough water to meet 23% of the national need. The document outlines ways to achieve this through reducing domestic usage, improving leak detection technology, and encouraging water meter installation. It calls on all water industry professionals to get involved in meeting the 20:20 Challenge goals.

1. The Water Management
20:20 Challenge Report
Published by TALIS UK 2015

2. Our 20:20 Challenge refers to two of the biggest tests facing the UK today and both concern our ability to
manage our most precious resource; water.
It is well understood that water management is a global problem.
The UN estimates that the world’s population will double in our lifetime, but that the availability of clean
drinking water will only increase by 50%. According to the World Bank, $14 billion is lost each year in clean water
that is wasted before it reaches its point of consumption.
However, what is perhaps less well understood (certainly by the general public) is how crucial an issue this is for
the UK.
The Environment Agency predicts that total water demand in England and Wales could increase 35% by the
2050s. And yet, climate change projections for the UK also suggest that by the 2050s summer temperatures will
increase and summer rainfall will decrease to such an extent that regular water shortages are likely.
Therefore managing our available supplies of clean water is vital.
The responsibility for achieving this goal belongs to everyone who works in the water management process
– engineers, construction workers, distributors, plumbers – not just the water companies and government.
Two practical challenges to which all of us in the industry can contribute is the 20:20 challenge:
-­ To work to reduce individual daily water usage in the UK by 20 litres.
-­ To work to reduce the amount of water lost through leakages by 20%.
Our research estimates that achieving both goals would save enough water to meet 23% of our total national need.
Saving not only precious water, but also huge amounts of money and energy and significantly lowering the UK’s
carbon footprint.
It is our hope that, whatever role you play in the water management process, that you join us in our 20:20
challenge.
Mark Hodgens
Managing Director – TALIS UK
The 20:20 Challenge

3. In a country where water seems plentiful and ever - present, seemingly falling from the skies in large amounts even during summer
months, it is perhaps counter intuitive to think that water scarcity might be a problem.
However, the truth is that our country has one of the lowest amounts of water per capita in Europe (on a par with Spain) and faces a
number of serious challenges in relation to water management that need to be addressed as a matter of urgent national interest.
So what are these challenges?
7 reasons the UK should care about water management
1. Our water isn’t in the places where it is needed:
Rainfall is much higher than average in less densely populated areas (Scotland, Northern Ireland and Northern England) and
much lower than average in the southern parts of England. There are solutions to this problem – but not all are simple and all
have inherent difficulties.
2. The quality of our water is deteriorating:
50% of the UK’s groundwater used for public supply is showing a significant deterioration in quality. Just 29% of groundwater in
the UK is rated by the Environment Agency as being ‘good’ or better. Once again Scotland fares better with 76% classified as good.
The problem is the result of a number of factors such as water run off from agricultural land containing chemicals and polluted
highway run off.
3. Social changes are putting water systems under strain:
In almost every way our society is putting the system that delivers our clean water under strain. We have an increasing
population that is growing most rapidly in areas where water is most scarce. We are living in households with fewer people, creating
greater inefficiencies in water usage. Our Land - both urban and rural is being used more intensively impacting on the availability,
cleanliness and usage of the finite amount of water we have available.

4. 4. Our personal levels of water usage are not sustainable:
The average person in the UK uses 150 litres of water per day, a figure
that has been growing by 1% per year since the 1930s. Increasing use of
domestic appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers have
contributed to this rise, as has our increased access to plentiful hot water for
baths and showers. The government has set a target to reduce this average
consumption by 20 litres per day by 2030.
5. Water management is important in tackling our energy efficiency and
carbon footprint:
Producing and distributing clean water is a highly energy intensive process
- contributing 1% of our nation’s carbon footprint. Each litre of water used
in our homes has generated 7 grams of carbon dioxide in its production.
Therefore, more efficient use of water would significantly improve our
nation’s energy efficiency and carbon footprint.
6. The public is unaware of these issues and their implications:
Our own research (Talking Water Report 2014) found that the public believes
the risks of water shortages, pollution and water wastage are decreasing in
the UK. Indicating how little public concern and debate there is over matters
of such national importance, making it harder to bring about the necessary
changes.
7. We don’t have an established national plan for exploiting water resources:
Theories about how to exploit our country’s natural water resources need to be developed into
practical applications at a national level that balance human needs with the wider impact of the
environment and eco - systems.

5. Let’s focus on two key areas of water management – domestic usage and
water leakages.
Water within the home:
An average daily use of 150 litres per day equates to about a tonne of
water each week. All of this water has been cleaned, treated and pumped
to our homes. Every last drop of it has been purified so that it is clean
enough to drink.
And what do we do with the majority of it?
Either flush it down the toilet, wash ourselves or clean our dirty clothes
or plates in it. 84% of all of our clean water is used for these purposes.
Just 4% of our high quality drinkable water is ever actually drunk.
Clearly our domestic usage of water represents a major opportunity
for better water management. Either through reducing our average
consumption or to find more efficient ways to re-use and recycle water
that is fit for a specific purpose.
Where can we make the significant changes required?

6. Water companies work hard to reduce leakages from the system and since 2005 the total amount of water lost through
leakages has come down by just over 8%.
However, it is still the case that every single day in the UK 3.36 billion litres of drinkable water are lost through leaks. For
each water company that’s an average of one in five of every litre gathered, cleaned and treated.
That’s enough water to supply the needs of 22.4 million households.
The average water company loses enough water through leaks to supply 34% of its domestic customers (some as high as
50%).
Water Leakages

7. If these two areas can be effectively targeted – levels of domestic usage and water leaks - there is
potential to hugely improve our country’s position in relation to water management.
20: A 20 litre reduction in personal water usage
20: A 20% reduction in water leakages
This combined achievement would save 1.99 billion litres of water each day.
Enough to provide 23% of our nation’s daily domestic need.
The 20:20 Opportunity

8. The race is on to create effective ways to manage water systems to reduce wastage through leaks as well encouraging more efficient
domestic use of water resources.
New technology and big data analysis are combining to help water companies better detect and predict where problems will arise.
Projects such as the citywide initiative in Caceres in Spain are aiming to create a model for smart water management across urban
areas. This is being organised by SmartWater4Europe, an EU research project that brings together 21 participants, including water
utilities, technology companies, universities and research centres. It is investing €2.5 million in a smart water grid in Caceres, designed
to detect underground leakages, real time control over water quality and remote meter reading.
Other initiatives such as the ISS-EWATUS project being co-ordinated by the University of Silesia uses a number of techniques to try and
improve water management. At a household level it is creating a mobile app to provide the public with data on their water usage and
information and social networks to encourage water saving behavior. At a city-wide level it is looking at innovations to reduce leakages
combined with a pricing policy to reward water saving behavior.
Two Solutions:
Such projects are being facilitated with innovation in ‘smart’ valves
and meters such as Ultraf an Integrated Ultrasonic Measuring Unit
and Raf Valve, developed by Raphael Values, part of the Talis Group.
The Ultraf Valve helps reduce leakage by sending an immediate
message to any control system that it has detected a leak. It is the only
integrated ultrasonic water meter and control value and is relatively
easy to fit as it only requires a small installation space and is virtually
maintenance free.
1. Getting Smart

9. A study carried out by TALIS UK of 1,000 households found that water meters were the most effective way of making the public more
water conscious. The study found that of the households who said they were trying to reduce their water usage, almost two-thirds (64%)
were doing so because they had a water meter fitted.
Further studies by Waterwise, indicate that water meters lead to a reduction in household usage of between 10 and 15% - in line with
our 20 litre per day target.
Not only does this reduce water consumption, it also reduces household bills. Ofwat’s own figures show that metered customers pay on
average £100 less per year for their water, with those in some regions paying even less. The South West of England averaged £400 less
for example.
Another benefit of metering is that it encourages better reporting of leaks. Ofwat states that a quarter of all water lost through leaks
take place within the boundary of someone’s property. Meters flag up where a leak is occurring and provide a strong financial incentive
for the property owner to report the leak quickly.
2. Water Meters: Tackling Domestic Water Waste
However, despite the many benefits of water meters many of the
public are still to be won over. According to TALIS’ own research
70% of people yet to have a water meter installed believe it will cause
their bills to rise. A belief fuelled by the media coverage about the
cases where leaks have caused higher bills or for the minority of
cases where people have proved to be slightly worse off after
metering.
As a result, in some areas where water shortages are most acute (such as
Southern Water), water companies have been given permission for man-
datory meter installation.

10. At TALIS UK we are committed to doing everything we can to achieve our 20:20 vision of water management in the UK.
We want you to join us, whatever your role in the water management process – engineer, construction worker, distribution, planner - we
want you to get involved.
Ways you can take part:
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A Plan of Action for 20:20
Sign up to our 20:20 pledge, marking your commitment to helping achieve either (or both) a 20 litre reduction in domestic
water usage or a 20% reduction in water lost through leaks.
Get informed by signing up to our mailing list for advice and information about ways you can help deliver 20:20 through
your organisation.
Contribute your ideas to our think tank. We’re interested in imaginative and innovative ideas that can help deliver either of our
20:20 goals. We’ll collate the best ideas into our next 20:20 report to help implement the best of these.
We’ll be launch these and other initiatives throughout 2015 so keep an eye on our website and social media
to keep informed.