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Before the well runs dry: sustainable building to save water

Date of speech	8 November 2008
Location	Stationers Hall, London
Event summary	Worshipful Company of Water Conservators

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Draft text of the speech - may differ from the delivered version.

Thank you very much for that kind introduction. 

I was interested to read lately that it's now possible to calculate your water footprint as well as your carbon footprint. 

Apparently it takes something like 120 litres to produce each glass of wine we're having tonight - rather a sobering thought. 

Benjamin Franklin once said that when the well is dry, we know the worth of water.
After years of taking water for granted, that worth is now being brought home to us in very profound ways.

Population growth and changing lifestyles are increasing the demand for water. 

At the same time, drier summers and wetter winters caused by climate change are leading to wild swings between widespread droughts and devastating floods. 

Parts of the South East are now more water stressed than Syria and the Sudan. 

The need to tackle climate change has gone from abstract issue to international priority over the past few years.  It has certainly been a recurring theme throughout my recent career.  
I was privileged to be Secretary of State at Defra at a time when the discussion about climate change was coming out of the science labs and into classrooms and boardrooms right around the country. 

As Foreign Secretary, I made tackling climate change my first priority.  You only have to look at the example of Darfur to see why.  Shortages of scarce resources like water can exacerbate insecurity and instability into conflict and crisis. 

Now, as Housing Minister, I am working on the biggest housebuilding programme we've seen for decades. 

Yet perhaps the most significant challenge is not the quantity of homes we need - it's the quality. 

Though I think it would be a mistake to see this only as a challenge.  It is also an opportunity. 

Today, the average person in England uses around 150 litres of water.  That's increased by about 1 % every year since 1930s. 

Compare this with the 20 litres a day used in Sub Saharan Africa.

It's simply unsustainable.  And even more outrageous when you think each of us uses more than that flushing the toilet each day. 

The national strategy, led by Defra, aims to cut water usage by around 20 litres per person per day over the next 20 or so years. 

This is a tall order.  It requires much more than getting people to turn the tap off when they clean their teeth - important though such small steps are. 

It requires nothing less than a major rethink and revaluation of our attitude to water so that we respect and treat it as a scarce resource, rather than something that's always available on tap. 

With this major building programme, the chance is there to completely change our approach to designing and building our homes.  Making it easier for consumers to "do the right thing" without even thinking about it. 

Since half of all water is used in our homes, there is the potential to have a really big impact.   

Much of the public attention has focused on the zero-carbon target for new housing - making our homes vastly more energy efficient to cut carbon emissions. 

And understandably so - because we are the first country to be so ambitious.

But a sustainable home isn't just a zero carbon home.  It's also one which reduces waste, which cuts energy consumption - and clearly, which helps reduce water usage. 

Our planning policies are already laying the foundations for more sustainable building - emphasising the need for all new development to respond to the threat of climate change. 

Within housing, the main driver for greater efficiency in new buildings will be the Code for Sustainable Homes. 

Next year, we plan to change building regulations to reflect the code - so all new homes will be built to use a maximum of 125 litres per person, per day. 

But some designers and developers are already reaching for the highest code levels, creating homes which would use only eighty litres per person, per day, using integrated recycling and water collection systems. 

We want to replicate this greater ambition in some of our exemplar projects. 

In the Thames Gateway, for example, we are considering how it might be possible to achieve water neutrality - delivering major increases in housing and jobs, but without corresponding increases in water usages. 

Research suggests this would depend on a combination of making new development more efficient; retrofitting older homes; reducing leakage; and encouraging households to reduce usage.  

As part of our wider work to make the Thames Gateway a true eco-region, we're currently working with our partners to develop a realistic strategy towards this goal. 

Eco-towns too are a chance to go even further. 
Each development will have to take a sustainable approach to water consumption and management across a whole community. 

For example, offices as well as homes will have to meet higher standards, and the whole town will benefit from sustainable urban drainage solutions. 

More than that, the idea is not just to have minimal impact, but actually improve water quality in the area.    

I know that many of you share both our concerns, and our ambitions, and I hope you will take every opportunity to share your ideas and insight. 

Finally, let me propose a toast to the worshipful company of water conservators.  Root and branch, may it flourish for ever.