A study by University Professors Mirco Tonin and Carmine Ornaghi which shows a substantial drop in water usage when meters are installed, has been presented to industry experts at Westminster.
The professors made their presentation at a Policy Briefing event, hosted by Royston Smith MP at Portcullis House on the 17 September.
The South East of England is currently undergoing a massive programme of water meter installation, known as the Universal Metering Programme (UMP), involving the introduction of half a million new meters in people’s homes.
Professor Ornaghi presented the findings of the study outlining the drop in water usage in properties within the UMP area and demonstrated that the average household usage had decreased by 16.5% since the meters had been installed.
The study highlighted how new incentives in pricing affect the demand of water and how behavioural change is required from consumers in order to achieve clear reductions in demand.
The London event served to influence other major water companies to adopt universal metering in order to support improved management of this precious resource on an individual, regional and national basis.
A report from the event can be found here.