Water is a scarce natural resource which we have a moral duty to protect. We also believe that the cost and availability of water is likely to be influenced by future changes in legislation and climate change impacts, so we are working to reduce our consumption and improve our efficiency of use.
We use water in our business for a variety of activities, such as in stations for water tanks on trains, washing trains and providing facilities for passengers. We also use water for small scale herbicide treatment and washing leaves off the line. At other locations like our corporate offices, signalling workplaces and training centres water is used for cleaning, toilet and canteen facilities.
Water Use
Our estimated water consumption for 2010/11 is around 2.2 million m3 (2009/10: approximately 1.8 million m3). This figure is based on a mixture of actual and estimated readings from our utilities bills. We recover the costs of the water we purchase that is used by train operating companies (TOCs) and other third parties at shared sites (like stations and depots). Our total consumption figure is derived from the cost of all the water we purchase and doesn’t include the water we buy on behalf of TOCs or other third parties.
Improving consumption information
Alongside the automatic meter reader programme for measuring electricity consumption which we are rolling out, in 2010/11 we began to explore the possibility of metering our water use by location. Installing water meters is more complex than installing electricity meters as access to the water pipes is required; this can be difficult in some of our older buildings. We will report further on this area in our next report.
In 2010/11, specific focus has been placed on encouraging our people to report leaks across our estate, particularly following the harsh winter of 2010 and an associated higher number of burst pipes. As the owner and user of a large number of buildings that all require water we have a responsibility to manage and account for the water supplies to each location.
Water in materials
As part of our sustainable procurement programme, water was one of the 14 impact areas used to assess how sustainable our different infrastructure materials are. Of the 500 different categories investigated, water was found to be highly significant for over 50 of the categories including the materials used to build tunnels, bridges and track.
Our water recovery target
In 2009/10, we reported that we would be targeting the water reused from the two biggest rail tunnels on our network which run under the Severn and Mersey Rivers. After further investigation and discussion with both water companies and local customers, we concluded that an 85 per cent reuse target (that was initially suggested) is unachievable and as a result this target has been removed. We want to improve the way we measure our water consumption, set new targets and improve our performance against these. We will report more fully on our progress in our next report.