Water covers 71% of the Earth’s surface, leaving many business owners puzzled as to why a focus should be placed on water conservation inside their organisations. In this blog post we hope to shed light on the live issue of water usage and how your business will benefit from saving water.

1. Meeting customers’ expectations

As the general population becomes more and more educated on the risks of climate change and how key sustainability is, most people are making a concerted effort to live an eco-friendlier life. In the United Kingdom alone, money spent on environmentally friendly goods and services has tripled over the last ten years, with 77% of people saying they want to live more sustainably.

Consumers look for businesses that are aware of their impact on the environment and take responsibility in trying to reduce it, giving greener companies an advantage over their competitors.

2. Keeping your business safe

Water is a finite resource, and draining your local environment of it will have adverse effects on the ecosystem with hedges/trees dying and soil erosion more likely, letting water flow quickly into waterways. Diverse landscapes and an array of different plant species withstand shocks more effectively, protecting the area and therefore your company. In the increasingly likely event of a flood, the strengthened ecosystem helps defend against the strong flow of water, reducing damages. During the 2013/14 floods in the UK, small firms lost over £830m because of the damage they received.

Keeping your local ecosystem healthy and diverse helps reduce the effects of floods and potentially stops your business being affected at all.

3. Saving money

Using less water in your business reduces the amount of money you need to spend on water bills at the end of each month. Installing one water saving tap can reduce your water consumption at that tap by 90%. Any money you have spent on water efficient goods can quickly be made back and can be calculated beforehand for many products, and can eventually be used on funding other aspects of your business.

Though it may seem obvious, a huge sum of money can be saved through water conservation in businesses, giving you more freedom to spend.

4. Complying with external policies

As climate change becomes a part of government and investors’ policies like the Climate Change Act 2008, it is important that businesses follow them to avoid fines or lack of funding. In the UK, the 2014 Water Act encouraged the use of sustainable drainage systems and set in place guidelines businesses must follow. Companies must also make sure they are cooperating with other river basin users and not polluting/taking too much water from the surrounding area.

In recent years investors have become more aware of the environmental impacts many big businesses have. According to a Harvard study, environmental, social and governance issues were the main priority of 43 global investing firms. Becoming more sustainable is a huge selling point for investors in the modern day and also provides companies with a good reputation among both shareholders and customers.

5. Saving the environment

The environment is perhaps the most important reason behind water saving due to its long-term effects when slowing down climate change and keeping the Earth healthy. Conservation of water, especially in businesses, retains more water for our rivers/lakes and keeps the ecosystems balanced and well. In addition to the raw water usage, wastewater treatment and energy used to heat, pump, or treat the water is also saved, decreasing air pollution; 0.4g of carbon dioxide is associated with each litre of water in the UK, as we have written about here before.

Water saving is vital for your UK business as it sets you up as an appealing and responsible company, whilst also protecting your organisation and the Earth from climate change and pollution.