Water scarcity could cost UK economy £25bn over five years in undelivered housing, study reveals

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Analysis by Public First explores the impact of water scarcity on housing and economic growth, as well as public perspectives around water reuse.

Economic analysis found that water scarcity could cost the UK economy £25 billion over the next five years due to undelivered housing developments – a critical obstacle to meeting the government’s housing targets. The research suggests that approximately 61,600 homes could go unbuilt in the east and southeast of England over the next parliamentary term due to water scarcity.

Water, housing and the economy

This shortfall represents almost 40 per cent of the additional housing required annually in these regions under the government’s revised housing targets. In January Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves highlighted the importance of growth areas like the OxCam Arc to the government’s overall economic growth agenda.

Addressing water scarcity through smart housing solutions is essential to mitigating these losses and ensuring sustainable growth in the UK’s most economically significant regions. The analysis found that building ‘water smart’ homes – those that use 30 per cent less than the current 110l per person per day standard for new homes – would unlock 49,000 of the 61,600 ‘lost’ homes in areas facing water scarcity.

Public perspectives on water recycling

Public First conducted an anonymous online survey of over 4,000 people across the UK to delve into attitudes towards water reuse, as well as water shortages more generally. This included experiments to test how water reuse type, location, water use, and treatment affect public attitudes, and to test what types of messaging around water reuse are most and least effective.

The survey found that the public are very willing to reuse water in their homes. 75 per cent would be willing to use rainwater or greywater (water from sinks, showers, baths, washing machines) for toilet flushing, for example.

The type of water reuse matters: people are very willing to reuse rainwater but are averse to the concept of recycled toilet water. People are most willing to use recycled water for toilet flushing and outdoor uses such as watering and cleaning.

The broad support for water reuse is corroborated by research conducted by the University of Manchester as part of the EWSC project.

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Read the full report here, under ‘Project Outputs’.