Transition Cambridge is running a survey on how we use water, and what water saving measures we take. Why? Water shortage has been a concern for some time but seeing the film Pure Clean Water reminded me again of the acute need for us to reduce water demand. Lack of water has recently stymied government plans for growth but even with no extra homes or businesses we do not have enough water. I could go on but perhaps you know already – or you can read about it here.
Suffice to say, climate change means more extreme weather – wetter winters like this one but also drier ones and longer droughts. Our water supply from the chalk aquifer under the Gog Magog hills buffers some of the variation but has its limits – and our current level of demand has already caused irreparable damage to chalk streams which is why Nine Wells is no longer an SSSI [1].
Our water is incredibly cheap: in Cambridge the average water bill (excluding sewerage) is currently £163/year – 45p/day - which is 29% lower than the national average [2]. This price hardly reflects its value to our health and wellbeing, and does little to encourage water saving, even if you do have a meter. However there is a lot we can do with little or no effort. How often do you wash your clothes or bedlinen? Do you save water from cooking vegetables to pre-soak the dirty dishes? Do you flush the toilet every time you have a pee?
It is impossible to ask some of these questions face to face, as talking about personal hygiene is, well, rather personal. Hence this survey, which means you can tell us privately about your water use. There is no need to identify yourself unless you want to enter the draw for £30 shopping vouchers. In case you do, I (Nicola Terry) am the only person who will handle the individual responses and I will separate the email addresses from the rest of the answers as soon as I download the data. I am used to handling and anonymising personal data as I often deal with it in my professional work.
The survey will be open for ten weeks; after that I will report a summary of the findings and use this to promote water saving. For example, where there is a sizable minority taking particular actions, we can confidently describe this as quite normal and encourage others to adopt the same measures.
Please fill it in and ask your friends and family to do it too, whether or not they live in Cambridge.
[1] Nine Wells LGS (Cambridgeshire Geological Society)
[2] Discover Water
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