Don’t flush your toilet after using it to help conserve the nation’s water supply, says Thames Water executive
- Water boss Cathryn Ross: ‘If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down’
- Water companies regulator Ofwat have set companies targets to cut usage
Britons have been warned by a Thames Water executive not to flush their toilets after having a wee to conserve the country’s water supply.
The water firm’s strategy and regulatory affairs director Cathryn Ross has also implored people to cut down the length of their showers to save water.
Water companies regulator Ofwat have set companies targets to cut water consumption per person by a fifth by 2038 – but most failed to meet these targets in 2021/22.
Former Ofwat chief executive Ms Ross said that levels of water use in the UK were ‘unsustainable’ looking into the long term – with the average Briton using 142 litres per day, with Thames Water customer using 146 litres on average.
When she was asked if people should follow the advice of, ‘if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down’, she replied ‘absolutely, yes’.
Britons have been warned by a Thames Water executive Cathryn Ross (pictured) not to flush their toilets after having a wee to conserve the country’s water supply
‘If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down’, Ms Ross agreed
She added that the most important way to reduce water consumption on a day-to-day basis is ‘shorter showers and not flushing the loo every time’, The Times reported.
Ms Ross has also urged people to reduce hosepipe usage during heatwaves. Her company did not introduce a ban until late August amid last years droughts.
A hosepipe that runs for ten minutes uses as much water as one person would use in a whole day.
Thames Water believe demand will rise across the areas they cover, London, Oxfordshire and Guildford, from 2.6billion litres per day to 3.6billion by 2050.
She said that Britain would also need more reservoirs and transfers of water from wetter parts of the country to match rising demand, saying that the UK ‘desperately needs more water storage’.
Ms Ross said that Britain would also need more reservoirs and transfers of water from wetter parts of the country to match rising demand, saying that the UK ‘desperately needs more water storage’ (file photo of Walthamstow Wetlands reservoir)
Thames Water wants to build a new reservoir in Oxfordshire, near Abingdon, where plans were rejected to build one there by the government in 2011.
Ms Ross told The Times they also need to tackle the 24 per cent of water lost to leakages.
They want to get water from the River Thames near Teddington lock to fill reservoirs in east London, replacing it with treated water from Mogden sewage treatment works – but the plans have faced local opposition.
But she has said the water ‘is safe, it’s treated, it’s clean’ and that ‘people need not be concerned’. It is expected that a decision on the scheme will be made in June.
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