7 I N 1 0 B R I T S W O R R I E D A B O U T T H E I M PA C T O F C L I M AT E C H A N G E O N W AT E R S U P P L I E S 1.6 million UK households order free water-saving gadgets in heatwave This week will see a welcome drop in temperatures across the UK, but with the Met office warning of above average temperatures through to October2, the environmental charity Hubbub is encouraging people to keep up the great work on saving water. A nationally representative poll1 of UK adults commissioned by Hubbub found that 7 in 10 people are worried about the impact of climate change on water supplies, but most of the 44% who have been saving water since the heatwave started in June expect to go back to normal water usage habits once the heatwave is over. In addition, over half of those surveyed who aren’t saving water say they’re already saving as much as they can and a quarter say they don’t think the amount they could save would make a difference. On average each of us uses 150 litres of water a day at home, with bathing/showering and flushing the toilet using around half of this3. Since the heatwave started 1.6m households4 have ordered free water saving products provided by water companies such as devices for the toilet which reduce the amount of water flushed away, shower timers and tap aerators, which save water by mixing water with air. That’s a 28% uplift in demand, taking the tally to 1 in 4 UK households that now have them. However 51% of those surveyed weren’t aware they could get these and a further 20% were aware but hadn’t got around to ordering them. Trewin Restorick, CEO of Hubbub said: “It is good to see more and more people are taking advantage of the free water saving gadgets available from their water companies. Lots of us are great at remembering to save water while it’s scorching hot, but these gadgets help do the job all year round. At a time when our weather is increasingly extreme and unpredictable it will really help take the pressure off water supplies if more people fit these, and for anyone on a water meter it can also help reduce your bill.”

The top three ways people have been saving water during the heatwave are stopping running the tap while cleaning their teeth (25%), washing the car less (24%) and taking fewer baths (22%). More tips on saving water and details of how to order free water saving devices from your water company can be found at https://www.hubbub.org.uk/tapchat Ends For more information please contact the Hubbub team at Barley Communications:  Maria Kortbech maria.kortbech@barleycommunications.co.uk 07952 507270 Sam Williams sam.williams@barleycommunications.co.uk 07949 607029   Notes to editors 1. Polling of nationally representative sample of 2,002 UK adults conducted by Censuswide in August 2018 2. https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/binaries/content/assets/mohippo/pdf/public-sector/ forecast-temp-aso-v2.pdf 3. https://www.affinitywater.co.uk/saving-water.aspx 4. 5.7% of survey respondents ordered water saving devices from their water company since the heatwave started x 27,227,700 UK households (Office for National Statistics) = 1,551,979 households 

Regional data

Respondents worried about the impact of climate change on water supplies

No of households who've ordered water saving devices since heatwave ('000s)

% of households who now have water saving devices

East of England

65%

72

20%

London

66%

394

38%

East Midlands

69%

170

29%

West Midlands

70%

134

26%

North East

53%

67

27%

North West

78%

237

30%

Northern Ireland

63%

0

12%

Scotland

65%

92

11%

South East

69%

116

25%

South West

68%

73

26%

Wales

66%

13

15%

Yorkshire and the Humber

71%

173

26%

About Hubbub Hubbub is a charity which explores innovative ways to interest mainstream consumers in important sustainability issues, through different ‘hubs’ of activity: Food; Fashion; Homes; Neighbourhoods; Sport and Leisure. Hubbub’s previous campaigns have included #SquareMileChallenge, the UK’s first large scale solution to coffee cup recycling, #GiftABundle to get pre-loved baby clothes back into circulation and #PumpkinRescue to encourage more people to eat the carvings from their Halloween Pumpkins. www.hubbub.org.uk