Welcome to Water Talkers

Water is such a precious and finite resource but most people don’t really realise it, especially in the UK where it rains a lot. It is very easy for us to take water for granted but it is vital to our wellbeing and also in ensuring there is food to eat and that we have the energy we need. In the longer term, we are all going to have to have coordinated approach to use water more efficiently.

Of course this means the water companies will need to act and operate differently. There is a huge amount still to do of course, but there is a lot going on in this space already e.g. we are currently seeing the largest investment in our water network infrastructure in a generation.

A major opportunity for water companies lies in working closely with the communities they serve and ensuring there is understanding about the challenges we face to ensure the future is sustainable. The rise of crowdsourcing provides a great chance to work with customers to help ensure that people not only  understand about the issues but are also able to help making suggestions about what can be done – the water companies do not have all the answers.

That’s where the new Water Talkers community comes in. We are trying through use of social media to see what great ideas you might come up with and that the water companies could adopt. From making water saving more fun to how we can help people to put just pee, paper and poo down the loo. We are interested in any and all thoughts you have on these subjects, or comments you have on other people’s submissions, and there will be prizes to be won along the way.

The project and platform is being run by UKWIR – UK Water Industry Research who want to get fresh insight and ideas from you, to tackle some of the most pressing issues facing water operators in the UK. UKWIR want to understand why people feel the way they do about water, and how we can get everyone more interested in water related issues…so that we can encourage behaviour change for greater public good. 

Please do come on in. The water’s lovely.