LANDSCAPING & EXTERNAL WORKS 77


Water neutrality can’t be an afterthought


Adam Dean from SDS raises the challenging question of reducing our water footprint and dives into the concept of water neutrality


A


re you familiar with the concept of water neutrality? The chances are, like most people, the term ‘carbon neutral’ is much more familiar and understandable to you. Many of us – in our personal or professional lives – are used to thinking about our carbon footprint. But what about your water footprint? Have you ever thought about that?


I’m not saying energy and carbon saving


aren’t vital if we are to reverse global warming. But, we rely on water to live. We can’t live without it for even a few days. And yet, we take water for granted – and we waste a lot of it. Treating and managing water has its own carbon cost, too; we will never get to carbon neutral without addressing what it takes to become water neutral as well.


ADF JUNE 2022


Water neutrality is not just for theoretical contemplation. It’s already making an impact on people’s lives in the UK and it will not go away. In one area of Sussex, the Local Plan to build 17,000 new homes was halted last year, and a moratorium placed on all new developments unless they can be demonstrated to be water neutral. The ban was imposed after Natural England decided enough was enough, following over-abstraction of water from the local environment. The amount of water being taken from the sensitive River Arun could no longer be tolerated. Water neutrality is where a new development must not result in any increase in demand for mains water within the planning area in which it is situated. It’s something that local people, developers and


Despite their position in the SuDS Manual at the top of the design hierarchy, rainwater harvesting and reuse systems have failed to become mainstream


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