Above: Dry bed of the River Chess in Chesham
With chalkstreams, including our local River Chess, in crisis, Impress the Chess have given their views on how we can all drive down personal water consumption. Impress the Chess is a partnership of residents and local organisations committed to protecting the River Chess. It's members have responded to DEFRA's consultation called 'Measures to Reduce Personal Water Use'.
The chalk aquifer that feeds the Chess is the same aquifer that Affinity Water and Thames Water abstract from for public water supply. For this reason, it is important that we all try to reduce our water consumption to help save the Chess.
Impress the Chess members outlined a number of measures they believe can help reduce water wastage, including:
- more ambitious mandatory minimum water consumption standards for new builds
- water efficiency labelling on products and appliances
- a national educational campaign about water scarcity and water saving
- more widespread installation of water meters
- community and personal incentives to reduce water use
- grey water recycling and rainwater harvesting
You can view the whole consultation response here (PDF, 16 KB).
The consultation deadline is the 11th October and the consultation can be viewed here: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/water/measures-to-reduce-personal-water-use/
Published: 10 October 2019