By David Smoker, Chair of the Standards and Regulations Group.
It’s been a while since our last standards and regulations update, but a lot has been going on in the background.
As part of our Networks November programme, we had an open Standards and Regulations meeting, hosted by BSI on 22nd November. During the meeting we discussed the implications for standards arising from the recent BSI publication ‘Thirst for change’. More on that later.
We also updated members on the progress so far on the two projects we started following our workshop session earlier in the year (March) and to check that we are going in the right direction – we are.
Developing an IGN.
Looking at the complexity of the standards and regulations landscape, the March workshop decided that we need a document to throw light on the subject. The document should give a clear illustration of the relationships between standards and the relevant stakeholders, including a glossary (taxonomy and definitions). To be useful the document needs to be in a freely available format.
With the approval of WaterUK Standards Board a sub-group of the Standards and Regulations Group has been developing an IGN (water Industry Guidance Note).
Fundamental to navigating relationships has been the use of ‘concepts’. Without going into detail here, the principles of concepts and the graphical display of the relationship between them is, appropriately, covered by standards, such as BS ISO 1087. The following is an example (that we’re still working on):
Each concept will be fully explained in the document, e.g. the Vienna Agreement shown in the figure above:
| Vienna Agreement |
1991 Agreement on technical cooperation between ISO and CEN. It gives common ISO/CEN guidelines for standards work and establishes the (conditional) precedence of ISO standards. The aim is to reduce duplication of effort.In practice, an ISO standard can be adopted by CEN as an EN ISO. In this case, it is automatically adopted by the CEN member bodies; in the UK it would become a BS EN ISO, e.g. BS EN ISO 9001. If adoption by CEN is not appropriate, the UK can still adopt as a BS EN, e.g. BS ISO 1087 |
Work on the IGN is ongoing, and we will update FWA members as it progresses.
If you are a FWA member and would like to join the working group contact us at standards@futurewaterassociation.com
Risk Register
Can we raise the profile of standards with the industry, both Water companies and the supply chain, by highlighting the risks and benefits as a line on a risk register? Another subgroup has been working on this, putting a factor against various risks, such as Financial, Operational, Environmental, H&S, Reputational. The next steps are to define the available mitigations and refine the risk register line.
Thirst for change
With all the issues around surface water flooding at the moment (and when will Schedule 3 be implemented? Weren’t we told 2024?), previous concerns about drought and water scarcity seem to have gone on the back burner. A recent report from BSI called ‘Thirst for change: Accelerating progress to a water secure world’ continues and extends the Water Scarcity Indicator work previously developed in conjunction with Waterwise. Looking across the world there are obvious countries where we would expect water security to be an issue, such as India and China, but there are also some surprises – Japan?. You can download the report from https://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/insights-and-media/campaigns/thirst-for-change/ .
Looking at the UK, we don’t score too badly, but not as well as some of our European neighbours; although our water scarcity risk is, comparatively, on the lower side our personal consumption and leakage levels are higher: “The UK has one of the lowest levels of renewable water resources available per capita and coupled with a relatively low price of water, high levels of personal consumption and of leakage this results in a relatively high overall Index score. Plans to reduce consumption and leakage and to trial pricing tariffs have the potential to drive progress, however it is notable that the public appear to have limited confidence that the UK is taking positive action to reduce water wastage. They are also sceptical that there is a suitable plan for water security in place, or that the country has the necessary infrastructure in place. The UK also scores relatively poorly when it comes to having sufficient financing in place to deal with water management challenges.”
Nothing that we don’t already know about. The recent Future Water report ‘Building a societal license for the water sector’ captured the lack of public trust in the water industry to ‘do the right thing’ for water security.
What solutions are there? This is where standards and regulations can help. For example, BS ISO 46001 gives guidance on water efficiency management systems; the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive incorporates the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), a new mandatory set of standards for sustainability reporting, including water reporting requirements. There is a plethora of standards on water management, environmental management and water reuse. Granted, there are still gaps and the task now is to create an environment where standards and regulations support the industry in ensuring water security.
Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the position of the Future Water Association.
If you’d like to become more involved in standards work and influence the way that standards evolve in your area, get in touch with us at standards@futurewaterassociation.com