Letters: Cry me a river, please
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[Re: Leaky pipes, raw sewage and blame shifting, yesterday]
Rivers are drying up and droughts have been declared across much of the UK. Hosepipe bans dotted around the country and tips on limiting water usage at home certainly go some way. But we’re missing the bigger picture here.
Keeping plants alive may be out, but needlessly running millions of litres of water down the drain from our commercial buildings is fine? We need to change our perspective.
It’s time for the commercial real estate sector to step up and address the sheer scale of water wastage from dripping taps and leaky pipes to unnecessary water usage when complying – inefficiently – with regulation. As a sector it’s been sluggish to innovate, but it cannot continue on this trajectory. Smart technologies can save millions of litres of water.
In fact, one leading UK bank now saves 8.1 million litres of water a year across 550 sites thanks to remote monitoring, automation and new building intelligence technologies.
So, why aren’t all commercial properties taking action? Can you imagine how much water we could save then? A lot more than a standard hose pipe ban I would say.
Ross Shiel