EWSC Action Area Projects

Project 1: Onsite Water Reuse

How might we develop clear guidance to determine the appropriate contexts for implementing decentralised community-scale systems?

Project Description

Supporting water companies and government in their quest to deliver water reuse within residential developments through three components:

1. Regulations for water reuse: supporting central government to address legal barriers to water reuse. Many household water uses don’t require water of drinking water quality, yet current ‘wholesome water’ rules in England & Wales mean that water companies can only supply potable water to homes.

2. Roadmap for water reuse: identifying the actions water companies must take to provide non-potable water networks.

3. Business case for water reuse: developing an evidence base for indicative costs for installing non-potable water networks in residential developments.

This project unpacks what is required to deliver water reuse assets and the indicative costs of installing them within residential developments.

EWSC Model entry point

Assets

Project Outputs

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Delivery lens

Private Sector Led

Water reuse in new housing: Understanding the business case

A lack of certainty over the costs of installing individual property or community-scale water reuse (alongside other factors such as regulatory definitions) is acting as a potential barrier to the approach’s ability to unlock significant water savings, particularly where water stress is making housing delivery challenging.

This study sought to increase clarity by sourcing and analysing capital cost information on the main components of water reuse installations: external pipework, storage and treatment equipment, and internal pipework.

Led by

The majority of this project resides in the ‘Assets & Network’ and ‘Assets & System’ parts of the EWSC framework. The business case workstream also spans the ‘Value & Network’ box.

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This project is principally focussed on private sector led development; it provides a valuable evidence base that will support Local Plan policies that require water reuse within new developments. It also supports water sector delivery by providing a roadmap for water companies for delivering water reuse assets.

EWSC Framework

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Roadmap to Water Reuse

The Roadmap identifies in chronological order the key activities required, primarily by Water companies, but also others, in order for England and Wales to be ready to rapidly implement community scale water reuse schemes going forward.

The roadmap was developed via a workshop with several water companies and later refined at a roundtable with water industry regulators. To ensure a holistic approach, the work covers: Political, Environmental, Social, Technological, Legal and Economic issues.

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