Over 60 Percent of UK Dairy Producers Using Water 'Inefficiently'

The UK’s dairy producers may be unaware that they are using higher volumes of water than necessary and should be encouraged to benchmark water use.

Five years of water consumption data from 53 dairy companies across the UK revealed significant differences in the volume of water used to produce milk, butter and cheese.

The data showed that over 60% of the sites were using water inefficiently.

Representative image, Image source: Pexels

While dairy producers have been encouraged to reduce their water use by 20% by 2020, there is currently no way for them to benchmark their performance against others, or themselves, to judge the effectiveness of water conserving practices.The UK’s food and drink sector is the greatest industrial consumer of water in the UK, and the dairy sector uses 21% of the UK’s fresh water resource.

Dr David Campbell, associate professor of water conservation at Heriot-Watt University, said the UK uses around 40.9 billion litres of water each year to produce 14 billion litres of milk.

“The huge volumes of water being used, whether from mains or abstraction, means it is critical for the UK dairy sector to start benchmarking its water use, and aiming for more comprehensive water management schemes,” Dr Campbell explained.“Water is used for drinking, cleaning and cooling in the dairy sector.

The ever-increasing cost of water, more stringent regulatory regimes and the high cost of energy for pumping and processing milk means dairy producers will benefit from optimal use of water.”

Read full article: Farming UK

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Taxonomy

• Water Efficiency
• Water Management
• Consumption
• Dairy Cattle Farming
• Dairy Development
• Dairy Products
• Dairy