Water

You’ll be well aware that we need water to survive, so conserving it and using it efficiently is vital for ensuring that scarcity does not become a problem. Water scarcity can cause a range of problems, for example when we don’t have enough water (either rainfall or groundwater supplies), it makes growing crops more difficult, which then affects food supply. In the UK ‘hosepipe bans’ come into force when water supplies are considered too low, and are used to make sure there’s enough water for essentials like washing, flushing toilets and firefighting. At home, water saving is as easy as having a water butt to collect rainwater for your garden, switching off the tap when cleaning your teeth or washing your hands, using shorter laundry cycles and taking shorter showers.

Watch the video (6:25) to find out more about where our water comes from, and why we need to think about our consumption.

Essex is one of the driest counties in the UK, which makes it all the more important for us to careful with how we use water. At the University, we have a wide range of measures in place: this includes a system that allows us to reuse water for cleaning grounds vehicles, a pond in EBS that collects rainwater to irrigate the building’s winter garden, rainwater harvesting in several buildings, dual flush toilets and sensor and 'percussion' taps (the type you press that time out) – to name a few!