EWSC Action Area Projects

The enabling action area projects are live areas of experimentation, each exploring a design challenge connected to the themes of assets, value and stewardship. They are selected from a long list of enabling actions derived from research and engagement and are located across the EWSC Framework.

Project 1: Onsite Water Reuse

How might we develop clear guidance to determine the appropriate contexts for implementing decentralised community-scale systems?

Project Description

Supporting water companies and government in their quest to deliver water reuse within residential developments through three components:

1. Regulations for water reuse: supporting central government to address legal barriers to water reuse. Many household water uses don’t require water of drinking water quality, yet current ‘wholesome water’ rules in England & Wales mean that water companies can only supply potable water to homes.

2. Roadmap for water reuse: identifying the actions water companies must take to provide non-potable water networks.

3. Business case for water reuse: developing an evidence base for indicative costs for installing non-potable water networks in residential developments.

This project unpacks what is required to deliver water reuse assets and the indicative costs of installing them within residential developments.

EWSC Model entry point

Assets

Delivery lens

Private Sector Led

Led by

The majority of this project resides in the ‘Assets & Network’ and ‘Assets & System’ parts of the EWSC framework. The business case workstream also spans the ‘Value & Network’ box.

This project is principally focussed on private sector led development; it provides a valuable evidence base that will support Local Plan policies that require water reuse within new developments. It also supports water sector delivery by providing a roadmap for water companies for delivering water reuse assets.

EWSC Framework

Project 2: Water for people and places

Identify and understand the knowledge and experience already at our disposal to define how water companies, local planning authorities and developers can unlock and share the value of water smart communities.

Project Description

Water is currently undervalued in the UK. It’s readily available and cheap with little incentive to change how it’s supplied to new developments. This project explores case studies of water reuse in new developments to understand why these schemes haven’t been fully utilised. This will help define an ‘end-to-end journey’ for effective water reuse, from design, through procurement and installation, to maintenance and user experience. It will cover responsibilities, costs, incentives and aim to unite the disjointed approach across institutions such as water companies, local authorities and developers.

This project focusses on the role of ‘anchor institutions’ in unlocking the shared value of water smart communities. It will explore how we align local authority policies, water company incentives and developers’ sustainability objectives to make water reuse viable; in this way developing ‘shared value models’ for water smart communities that are replicable and scalable.

EWSC Model entry point

Value

Delivery lens

Led by

The components of the project reside in the ‘Value’ part of the EWSC Framework, at individual, network and system levels. In exploring examples of existing reuse systems, the project also spans the stewardship and asset parts of the framework at the site level.

This project is about cross sector collaboration to help maximise the understanding and opportunities that already exist. This will lead to the creation of a model that facilitates impact at scale and leaves a legacy rather than a series of test cases.

Public Sector Led

EWSC Framework

Project 3: Community-led stewardship model for water smart communities

Develop and test a community led stewardship model that empowers communities to incorporate, operate and maintain water-smart assets that meet the principles of Integrated Water Management.

Project Description

This project is developing a community led stewardship model through four steps:

Understanding and assessing existing stewardship models.
Co-designing a new community led stewardship model.
Identifying a suitable residential development site to demonstrate the model.
Producing a replicable model that can be applied to all development types.

This project is determining what is required to deliver a community led stewardship model, considering the operational costs of surface water management and reuse technologies. The stewardship model will take the form of a company that manages the site and is run by individuals, with a representative from an overarching national/regional governing body.

EWSC Model entry point

Stewardship

Delivery lens

Led by

The components of the project reside within ‘Stewardship’ part of the ESWC framework at individual, network, and system levels. The community stewardship model will incorporate a national governance structure to facilitate the implementation of Integrated Water Management principles at a local level.

This project is mainly focused on community led developments and aims to develop a robust stewardship model for estate management. It will also touch on private sector led developments as the stewardship model is applied more broadly.

Community Led

EWSC Framework