Why water efficiency must move up the priority list for UK businesses

When water becomes harder to access, more energy is required to abstract, treat, pump, and distribute it. In other words: saving water also means saving energy (and therefore carbon) while reducing cost and environmental impact at the same time.

Despite this, water efficiency is still frequently overshadowed by energy and carbon in corporate sustainability strategies. Here’s why organisations should move water-usage assessments to the top of their sustainability agenda, now.

Growing scarcity and systemic risk

Water scarcity is no longer a distant or theoretical concern for the UK, it is a rapidly emerging risk:

• The UK is forecast to face a shortfall of nearly 5 billion litres of water per day by 2050, driven by population growth, increasing demand, ageing infrastructure, and climate change.
• Between 2020 and 2050, the UK is twice as likely to experience years with water restrictions compared to recent decades, increasing operational uncertainty for businesses and communities alike.
• Water scarcity could cost the UK economy up to £25 billion over five years, particularly through stalled or undelivered housing and infrastructure developments.

For organisations dependent on reliable water supply, from manufacturing and construction to real estate and healthcare, these pressures translate directly into operational, financial, and reputational risk.

The water–energy nexus: why water = energy

Water is precious not only because it is finite, but because every litre carries an energy and carbon cost:

• The UK water industry is highly energy-intensive, accounting for around 3% of national electricity consumption, driven by abstraction, treatment, pumping, and wastewater management.
• Treating and distributing water requires approximately 586 kWh per megalitre of clean water, while treating sewage uses around 634 kWh per megalitre.
• As water sources become more stressed during droughts or periods of high demand, utilities increasingly rely on more distant or lower-quality sources, requiring greater pumping distances, higher pressures, and more chemical treatment. This drives energy use (and emissions) even higher.

The result is a reinforcing cycle: water scarcity increases energy demand, which in turn raises carbon emissions and costs. Businesses that ignore this nexus risk underestimating both their environmental footprint and their exposure to future price volatility.

Why this matters for business and infrastructure

Water scarcity isn’t just an environmental issue, it’s a strategic and commercial one:

• Constraints on water availability threaten the growth of housing, industry, energy generation, and critical infrastructure, undermining economic resilience.
• If water scarcity begins to constrain the energy system, for example by limiting cooling water for thermal power stations, the UK may be forced to rely on more expensive, less water-intensive generation, driving up energy costs across the economy.
• Regulatory pressure is increasing. The Environment Agency has called for water efficiency to become a national priority, citing high leakage rates (around 19% of water lost before reaching customers) and the need for smarter metering and demand reduction.

For businesses, this means that water efficiency is rapidly becoming a core component of compliance, resilience planning, and ESG performance, not a “nice to have”.

How water-usage assessments deliver real value

This is where targeted water-usage assessments can make a tangible difference:

• Baseline mapping
  Developing a clear, data-driven picture of how water flows through your operations, from abstraction and supply to use, reuse, and discharge. You can’t manage what you don’t measure.
• Energy and carbon insight
  Quantifying the energy and associated carbon embedded in your water use, revealing often-hidden emissions hotspots and inefficiencies.
• Efficiency opportunities
  Identifying practical, cost-effective interventions, from leak detection and process optimisation to low-energy treatment technologies and alternative sources such as greywater or rainwater reuse.
• Resilience and risk reduction
  Supporting the development of water-smart strategies that protect operations against future shortages, regulatory tightening, and rising energy costs, while strengthening sustainability credentials.

A clear signal for action

Scotland’s brush with drought in spring 2025 is a stark reminder that even a traditionally “wet” country must plan for water scarcity in a changing climate. It also reinforces a critical truth: water and energy systems are deeply interlinked. When water is scarce, we burn more energy to access it; when we manage water more intelligently, we reduce energy use, emissions, and risk.

Bottom line:
Investing in a water-usage assessment and starting to embed water efficiency into your sustainability strategy can help you mitigate operational risk, control costs, reduce carbon, and future-proof your organisation.

For any credible, resilient path to Net Zero, water must move up the priority list.

Read more about our Water Usage Assessments and how they can benefit your organisation.