COMMENT
Scorchio P
hew what a scorcher. Being slightly longer in the tooth than I care to admit, I remember the heatwave of 1976, a brutal 15-day stretch where temperatures topped 32°C, when normal running water was either strictly rationed, or cut off altogether, entire neighbourhoods queued outside with buckets and containers to collect daily drinking and washing water from temporary street pipes. It wasn’t just that parts of the UK received no rainfall for 45 days that Summer, it also came after an unusually dry Autumn and Winter. I also remember the heatwave of 1995, which lasted 34 days. We’re currently on our 35th day in 2026 – and I don’t want to think about the temperatures in France and Spain. What we are experiencing may be the result of irreparable climate change, the consequence of damage that humans have done to the planet. Or it could be a blip, a phase in Mother Nature’s general renewable cycle. Or a combination of the two. Or, for conspiracy theorists, something else entirely. What this all shouts out is the need in this country for water recycling. Hosepipe bans are all very well, and get ignored anyway, but, as a nation, we simply have to rethink our relationship with water. Households tend to not know how much water they use. When water meters became a thing, charging for the number of litres used rather than some nominal rateable value, there were winners and losers. Households with two adults or single people, by and large, were the winners. Families, particularly larger ones, paid more because they used more. That’s not unreasonable, it’s the way the energy bills work.. When smart meters for gas and electricity started to be a thing, I know plenty of people who changed their usage because they could see just how much they were spending every time
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they boiled the kettle. Similarly, those with solar panels or heat pumps could feel smug about the amount of ‘free’ energy they were generating. Does modern technology have the ability to implement similar ‘smart meters’ for water use? There is a very real chance of our rainy, foggy old nation using more water than it has at its disposal in a couple of decades. The Future Homes Standard goes a long way with energy usage, but it’s light on details around grey water recycling or rainwater harvesting.
There is potential for water reuse or rainwater harvesting to dramatically reduce the 2055 national water deficit, but only if it is mandatory. Look at what happened with the growth of condensing boilers.
One of the many, many downsides of all the publicity about the privatised water companies and the amount they have hived off to shareholders over the years is a worrying, increasingly common attitude of ‘why should I cut my usage when they haven’t invested in reservoirs/stopping leaks’. Yet that’s such a blinkered argument. It may feel right, but Thames Water shareholders could return every penny they earned over the years to the company, and it still wouldn’t make it rain if the climactic conditions for rain aren’t right. Equally worrying, is the thought of what will happen when – may it please whichever deity you chose to plead with – it does rain properly. Our drainage infrastructure will struggle to cope if it rains in sufficient quantities to even begin to make up our deficit. Time to look seriously at mandatory rainwater reharvesting. BMJ
Fiona Russell-Horne Group Managing Editor - BMJ
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“
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines
William Shakespeare ”
CONTENTS 4 Newsround
What’s happening in the sector 8 News Extra
Consumer protection and the BUS grant 10 People
Who’s moving where and 10 minutes with 12 Viewpoint
Our guest columnists share their insights
16 Merchant Focus Benchmarx celebrates 20 years
18 Company Focus: Tarmac Inside Tarmac’s Tunstead cement plant
22 Company Focus: Novoferm Opening up to garage door sales 24 Timber
The latest from the world of wood 28 Tools
Getting to grips with cordless tools 30 Workwear
Exploring what makes a brand work
32 Ironmongery and Security Keeping up with the latest legislation
34 Industry voice All that’s happening with the BMF
36 Product News What’s new from suppliers 38 And finally
News from all around and the Prize Crossword
August 2026
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net 3
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