Rethinking Scotland’s water management

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Rethinking Scotland’s water management

Scotland is well-endowed with water and its water environments are in relatively good ecological condition compared to neighbouring countries. However, as Asit Biswas and Cecilia Tortajada argue here, if Scotland is to become a true ‘Hydro Nation’, it needs to go beyond the current mindset of sustainable water management and focus on how its immense water wealth can be used as an engine for economic growth and regional welfare.

In 1992, the United Nations General Assembly decided that the 22nd March would be designated as World Water Day (WWD). The Day’s main objectives included highlighting the importance of freshwater to socio-economic development of the world and to advance sustainable management of freshwater.

WWD has been regularly celebrated by many nations and institutions since 1993. Scotland is no exception. It became the first (and so far only) Hydro Nation, the objective of which is to manage its water sustainably and equitably for the socio-economic benefit of all its people.

On 22 March 2023 in Edinburgh, Scotland meaningfully celebrated WWD. Organized by the Hydro Nation International Centre of the James Hutton Institute, in Aberdeen, and the Scottish Government, the event comprehensively explored Scotland’s current and future water-related issues through partnerships and collaborations.

In her opening statement, the Scottish Minister for Environment and Land Reform, Màiri McAllan, observed that two-thirds of Scotland’s water environments are in ‘good overall ecological conditions’. This is more than four times greater than in England (at 16%), and about 50% larger than the European average (at 45%).

Scotland is well-endowed with water. It has managed its water supply and wastewater disposal system like an average British water utility, even though its water utility is in the public sector compared to the rest of the UK water industry that was fully privatised in 1989. Households in Scotland pay a flat rate for water and wastewater services, irrespective of their actual consumption levels. If it is to become a true Hydro Nation, it needs to go well beyond the current mindset of sustainable water management. The focus needs to include how its immense water wealth can be used as an engine for economic growth and regional welfare. In addition, it needs to explore comprehensively how water can be an important means to drive innovation and generate well-paid long-term employment.

A changing water utility management landscape

Scotland’s water utility, Scottish Water, is facing new challenges due to current and future requirements.

An important new requirement is that Scottish Water has to be carbon neutral by 2045 in both operational and capital investment terms. It is making a determined effort to make this happen. A major challenge it faces is how to reduce its per capita water consumption. Currently, per capita water consumption in Scotland is higher than the rest of England.

Scotland has fixed water and sewerage rates, independent of the volume of water withdrawn, over the entire nation. That is, houses do not have water meters. Consequently, there are no reliable data available on how Scottish households use water for specific activities, what is the per capita water use, or what are the leakage rates. An average person in Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, uses 166 litres per capita per day (lpcd), compared to about 152 lpcd for England.

The fundamental question for planning is how much water a person needs to lead a basic and productive life? Based on existing information, it is likely to be around 75 lpcd. This means per capita water consumption could be reduced by at least half. Several European cities now have brought down their per capita water use to around 75-80 lpcd levels.

Reduced per capita water consumption will mean lower wastewater generation. Unless water is used for gardening, around 85-90% of water used in a household becomes wastewater.

Wastewater treatment processes are prodigious users of energy. However, wastewater itself is rich source of energy which not even a single British utility has seriously tried to harness. A city like Aarhus, Denmark’s second-largest city, now extracts enough energy from wastewater which not only accounts for both water and wastewater treatment processes but also sells 55% extra energy to the electricity grid.

Reducing per capita water consumption can be best done through economic means and instilling conservation ethos among the general public. This is not a technical or engineering issue but rather in the realm of behavioural economists and psychologists. Water utilities all over the world are dominated by engineers: Scotland is no exception. Unfortunately, there is not even one water utility anywhere in the world which has a critical mass of behavioural economists or psychologists to nudge the general population towards progressively using less and less water.

Another important issue for all the British water utilities, including Scottish Water, is to reduce their water leakage rates which are extremely high. Because household water consumption levels are not metered in Scotland, it is difficult to reliably determine what that leakage rate is. However, a 2022 estimate by Financial Times shows Scottish losses running over 30%, the highest in the UK (Figure 1).

Figure 1 . Losses and profits of English and Scottish water utilities, 2020–2021. (Sources: Statista, Environment Agency, company reports, FT research, 2022).

In contrast, leakage rates in Tokyo, in 2021, were 3.5%, and in Singapore, around 5%. In a third-world city like Phnom Penh, it is around 8%. Thus, Scotland has considerable potential to reduce its leakage rates significantly. If so, it will mean that less water has to be pumped from rivers and ground, and less water has to be treated. Such steps will reduce the current energy consumption of all the British water utilities significantly. Thus, their carbon emissions will go down as well.

In addition to carbon neutrality by 2045, if Scotland is to become a true Hydro Nation, it needs to formulate implementable policies as to how its immense water wealth can be used as an engine for driving economic growth and regional welfare. It also needs to explore how water can be an important means to drive innovation in the nation and generate well-paid and long-term employment. Not only Scotland but also all countries, except for Singapore, have not seriously considered how water could be an effective means for regional development and employment creation in recent years.

A good example from the past is President Roosevelt’s concerted and successful attempt in the United States, during the 1930s, to escape from the Great Depression. This was achieved, to a great extent, through extensive river valley development projects, including construction of large dams and other hydraulic infrastructures. There have not been similar concerted attempts in the post-1945 world to use water for regional economic development. China, especially during the post-1990 period, has used the construction of hydraulic infrastructures for regional development and employment generation, including tourism promotion.

The future will be very different to the past

Global conditions are likely to change in the coming decades much faster than in the recent past. Technological developments are likely to be faster, and management practices are expected to improve. In addition, people’s attitudes to and perceptions of water are likely to undergo significant changes, as well as how water is used and managed for different sectors.

Consider the following facts. Historically, until 1900, human knowledge doubled every century. By the end of the 2nd World War, knowledge was doubling every 25 years. By 2010, doubling time was reduced to 13 months. In another decade, it may double not in months but in days.

Nearly 90% of current global data was generated during the past two years. With extensive use of sensors, robotics and artificial intelligence, data generated are likely to increase exponentially. Big data and their analysis would play important roles in sustainable water management and innovation.

Storage cost per gigabyte of data was over $1 million in 1980. Now, it is a fraction of one cent. It is likely to be free in the future.

Computing capacities have increased exponentially during the past 50 years but the cost of computing has declined astronomically.

These and other associated likely developments mean that future potential for innovation and start-ups is enormous in the Scottish water-related sector. Scotland has 19 universities and 6 research institutions. Some of them are world-class. With good and innovative policies, some of these universities could be encouraged to develop future-oriented R&D programmes in many of these emerging areas.

In addition, climate change considerations mean Scotland will have to consider how energy transformation should occur during the next two decades. Much of the important impacts of climate change will be manifested through the medium of water. It is time to rethink how to formulate Scotland’s new, innovative and implementable policies linking energy and water.

With the right policy options and incentives, Scotland could attract the best global talents to be a part of this exciting enhanced water transformation. This could make Scotland an ideal location for investment because of available talents and economic incentives. With a first mover’s advantage, this could accelerate its socio-economic development.

Asit K. Biswas , Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Glasgow, UK; Director, Water Management International, Singapore; Cecilia Tortajada , Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Glasgow, UK.

This article was published by GLOBAL WATER FORUM, June 16, 2023 .

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