“We will use water companies’ plans for water demand management measures to see how water savings can best be used to create hydrological benefits,” Richard Ashby-Crane, a river ecologist and project manager at Halcrow, told edie. “We will be looking to see whether we can demonstrate a better salmon or trout run, things like that.”
Translating hydrological benefits that result from increased water savings by water companies and consumers into tangible environmental benefits isn’t an easy task and Ashby-Crane acknowledges this. “If I’m a consumer who’s being asked not to use a hosepipe it would be nice to know how I’m benefiting the environment.”
The study, to be completed by the end of March 2000, is being undertaken on behalf of the UK Environment Agency and UK Water Industry Research, a body funded by water companies. Halcrow plans at least one workshop for the water industry to help disseminate the study’s conclusions.