Toilets, sinks, dishwashers, and washing machines will soon be sold with new water efficiency labels to help consumers reduce their water usage and save money, the government has confirmed. This follows a public consultation to make water efficiency labelling mandatory by 2025, which received widespread support and is one of the pledges in the government’s Plan for Water. Products that will be subject to labelling include toilets, urinals, bathroom basin taps, shower outlet devices and shower assembly solutions, dishwashers, washing machines, and combination washer-dryers.
The aim is for these labels to echo energy efficiency labels, with a category rating from A to F on household goods. The majority of respondents (74%) agreed that the proposal will help to reduce water consumption by 2038.
Water Minister Rebecca Pow said: “Labels are a simple and effective way to help the public save water when buying their next dishwasher or washing machine. Providing people with the information to make an informed choice means not only less water being wasted but also keeping bills lower too. With demand for water growing and challenges from climate change, this government is acting to make sure England’s water system is resilient – and through our Plan for Water we’ve set out how more investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement will help secure water resources for the future.”
Based on 2019 prices, the label could help save £125 million on water bills and £147 million on energy bills over 10 years, and 1,200 million litres of water a day across the UK – equivalent to 480 Olympic swimming pools. These projections are based on research from the Energy Saving Trust, funded by Defra and Waterwise, which found that a mandatory government led label would lead people to adopt more water efficient behaviours. By encouraging them to choose a device labelled as highly water efficient, consumers will see decreased bills through water savings and subsequent energy savings related to hot water use.
The government will continue to engage with industry on further details, such as how each category will be defined and the visual design of the label. The government has set a target to reduce the use of public water supply per person by 20% by 2038. Water efficiency labelling will form a key part of this goal, as laid out in the government’s Plan for Water.
The Environment Agency’s review of draft Regional Water Resource Plans found an additional 4,000 million litres of water a day will be needed in England by 2050 to meet future supply pressures. Approximately half of this amount will need to be delivered through demand management measures, including reducing leakage, and household and non-household consumption.
Australian Example
Australian-style water labelling must be introduced at pace to reduce the UK’s daily consumption of water, which is among the highest in Europe, according to experts drawing up plans to tackle drought. Billions of pounds more are likely to be added to customer water bills to pay for investment in new infrastructure if ministers do not act soon, according to specialists drawing up plans to tackle acute water shortages in south-east England.
They also want to see a high-profile public education campaign to encourage the public to reduce their daily use of water from 142 litres a day per person to 110 litres. Failure to tackle water use will mean water shortages in the near future, they warn. Ministers have promised to introduce labels on products such as washing machines, toilets and showers showing how efficient their water use is by 2024. But the deadline has already been pushed back, and water experts say the failure to act by government could add billions to their plans to tackle water shortages.
In Australia the use of water labelling has radically reduced water use. According to a review of labelling and standards scheme last year, 158 gigalitres of water, equal to 63,200 Olympic-sized swimming pools, was saved by it in 2022 and customers and businesses saved nearly A$1.5bn (£770m) on their bills. The south-east and east of England face the biggest water shortages in the coming years, as droughts caused by climate breakdown and population growth stretch dwindling supplies.
Without further action, the national infrastructure commission says there is a one in four chance over the next 30 years that large numbers of households will have their water supply cut off for an extended period because of severe drought. Experts drawing up policies to tackle water shortages over the next decades want more action from government to reduce consumer demand. The public in England and Wales uses proportionally more water than in many European countries. The government has a target for water companies to reduce per capita usage to 110 litres a day by 2050, to tackle water shortages.
Water companies across the five regions – north, west, east, south-east and the south-west – have targets to cut leaks by 50% by 2050, install smart meters and encourage customers to reduce their water use. But they say the government must act on water labelling and introduce new regulations for housebuilding to enforce water efficiency measures, in order to meet water reduction targets and save customers money.
Chris Murray, the chair of Water Resources South East, said more urgency was needed from government. “Our modelling and analysis has shown that achieving significant and sustainable reductions in water use will require multiple interventions from water companies and new government policies that embed water efficiency across society.” “Helping consumers to do this by providing more information about the water consumed by household products and removing inefficient products from the market is essential but will take time to have an impact.”
He said there was a need to raise awareness of the issues around water scarcity, the impact on the environment and how consumers could play a part in tackling shortages. “This will require a concerted and collaborative effort by a number of parties through a range of methods including public campaigns, education of future customers and improved data on household consumption that will be available from smart meters.”
The government has also promised to bring in minimum standards for all water using products by 2035 and impose new building regulations to ensure homes are water efficient by 2060. But Murray said these actions needed to be taken sooner otherwise new sources of water would be required involving extra investment of £2bn, which would be paid for by customers.
Water experts in the north, who have drawn up the water resource plans in the region, say they are reliant on government bringing in water labelling to cut individual water use in their region to the target of 110 litres per day. “The timing of wider government initiatives on water labelling and building regulations is key to reducing consumption,” their draft plan says.
Eleanor Ward, policy officer at Wildlife and Countryside Link, said the government had to step up to take the lead in tackling the impending water crisis. “Growing water demand and worsening droughts could cause irreversible harm to precious freshwater wildlife and vulnerable rivers and streams,” she said. “Government action is needed to crack down on chronic water waste from leaky pipes, which squander 20% of our water supply, and to help reduce demand from households and businesses.”
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “Clean and plentiful water is needed for every aspect of life. We have set out an ambitious programme of activities to improve water resilience in our environment improvement plan and plan for water and through the introduction of our water demand target. We are working at pace to deliver on all our commitments, which includes launching a water efficiency labelling scheme. We will publish our response this summer with a view to progress into the next stages of design ahead of its introduction in 2025.”
A new system of eco-labels launched by the UK government is intended to help save consumers money on their energy and water bills, but one industry group says the plan will create confusion and expense.
Some Pushback
Toilets, sinks, dishwashers and washing machines will be sold with new water efficiency labels under the terms of the plan, the details of which were confirmed on 29 September. As Defra explained, it follows a public consultation to make water efficiency labelling mandatory by 2025, which has received widespread support and is amongst the pledges made in the government’s Plan for Water. Products that will be subject to labelling include toilets, urinals, bathroom basin taps, shower outlet devices and shower assembly solutions, dishwashers, washing machines and combination washer-dryers.
But trade group the Unified Water Label Association (UWLA) said Defra’s plan “will create confusion and unnecessary expense.” The group’s MD Yvonne Orgill said: “The decision by Defra to progress a mandatory label will create confusion, as under their proposals there will be a UK only label, creating extra administration and expense for many manufacturers that operate across Europe and the UK.
In addition the cost of re-inventing the wheel by developing new technical criteria, testing products and setting up a whole new scheme, when this already exists via the Unified Water Label, is not only expensive for the industry but a waste of public money.
“Government is extremely misguided in spending time and money developing a label when there is a recognised and existing scheme developed by the industry, that they could utilise, at much less cost and more effectively. The document also omits any mention of a campaign to influence consumer behaviour, which is essential for any scheme to succeed, and something that the UWLA has been addressing since the scheme’s inception.
“The UWLA is fully committed to helping government address the issue of water efficiency but believes that it could work with, and listen to industry more.” “The Unified Water Label Association has responded directly to Defra and will be stepping up its campaign to lobby government for a reversal of this direction, with a view to adopting the existing Unified Water Label.”
The Environment Agency’s review of draft Regional Water Resource Plans found an additional 4,000 million litres of water a day will be needed in England by 2050 to meet future supply pressures. Approximately half of this amount will need to be delivered through demand management measures, including reducing leakage, and household and non-household consumption.
A number of environmental NGOs, particularly Blueprint for Water and Waterwise, have welcomed the general principle of mandatory water efficiency, but have called for greater ambition from the Government, including ‘minimum standards’ that would have banned some fittings. The list of products Defra selected for labelling leaves room for ambiguity, especially around the status of electric showers. The BMA and Yorkshire Water both agree that they should be included, as these showers constitute around half of the UK shower market.
On dual environmental labelling, the BMA and BEAMA shared the view that Government should identify the existing Unified Water Label (UWL) as an acceptable means to comply with any new requirement. Using the UWL would also reduce unnecessary duplication of work already undertaken. The BMF agreed and mentioned the large costs for Government to develop their own scheme. Several organisations disagreed with the idea that energy information should feature on the label (for taps and non-electric showers). Interestingly, the British Retail Consortium said consumers could be overwhelmed by too much information at the point of sale – in effect, causing ‘poster blindness’.
