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?

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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.

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Project Outputs

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.

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.

Enabling Water Reuse in the UK: Single Source of Truth

The Enabling Water Smart Communities project published a document entitled “A Roadmap to Water Reuse V2.0” in December 2024 (see above). A key finding was that there was confusion over the relevant regulations and guidance in the water reuse area.

This report considers the regulations and guidance (with emphasis on non-potable, community-scale schemes) in concurrent stages from the initial concept of a water reuse initiative through to its on-going operation.

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