Why water, not carbon, could be the next big business risk.
For years, carbon has dominated the sustainability spotlight, shaping strategies, reports, and headlines. But in my experience, while everyone’s busy measuring emissions, another resource has quietly been slipping away, and its absence will hit businesses hard.
I’ve seen first-hand how many organisations have detailed carbon strategies yet no real plan for water, even though every shower, tap, and boiler depends on it. Across the UK and Europe, water scarcity is moving from an environmental concern to a financial one. By the 2030s, England is forecast to face daily shortfalls of up to 5 billion litres of water.
For organisations managing large estates; hotels, housing providers, universities, leisure centres etc. that shortage won’t just mean higher bills, it’ll mean supply restrictions, tighter regulations, and growing pressure to prove resilience in ESG reporting.
The uncomfortable truth is that while many businesses have robust carbon plans, few have robust water strategies. And yet, every shower, tap, and boiler still depends on a resource that’s running out.
The hidden risk in every building
Unlike energy, water rarely shows up as a line item big enough to get board attention. It’s bundled into wider utility costs, spread across sites, and often unmeasured. But that invisibility is exactly what makes it risky.
Take the typical commercial shower: using 12–15 litres per minute, heated by gas or electricity, it draws on two resources at once, water and energy.
In high-usage environments like hotels or student housing, those combined costs can account for more than a quarter of total utility spend, so when supply tightens, or wholesale prices rise, it’s not just an environmental story, it’s a profitability one.
Rising regulation, real consequences
The regulatory shift has already begun. Under the Environment Act 2021, the UK has committed to cutting per-capita water use by 20 percent by 2037, and from around 2026, the Mandatory Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme (MWELS) will make efficiency ratings for all water-using products legally required the same way energy ratings transformed appliance design two decades ago (read more about that here).
For large estates, that means procurement teams, facilities managers, and ESG leads will soon have to evidence measurable reductions in water and hot-water energy use. Voluntary measures are over.
Those who act now will be ready and those who don’t may find compliance and cost pressures arrive together further down the line.
The operational impact of inaction
Water scarcity isn’t a distant scenario. It’s already reshaping how utilities, regulators, and investors expect large estates to manage their resources.
- Price volatility: Ofwat’s 2025 consultation on Promoting water efficiency in wholesale charges for business customers proposes tariff reform to help water companies recover infrastructure costs and encourage efficiency across high-usage sectors. For commercial operators, that means wholesale rates could rise where consumption remains high (Ofwat, 2025).
- Pressure limits and drought planning: Under new strategic planning guidance, UK water companies must design systems resilient to “1 in 500-year” droughts, including measures such as temporary use bans, non-essential use restrictions, and emergency drought orders when supply stress occurs (Water UK, 2025). For high-demand buildings, that means local restrictions or pressure reductions could become a reality during dry seasons.
- Investor and ESG scrutiny: Reporting frameworks like GRESB and CDP now require real-estate and infrastructure owners to disclose metrics on water consumption, intensity, and resilience measures. For multi-site operators, this shifts water from a maintenance concern to a board-level reporting obligation (GRESB, 2024).
For organisations managing large property portfolios, the question is no longer if these pressures will affect them, it’s how well prepared they are when they do.
Efficiency that protects the bottom line
That’s why Econovate was built to make efficiency a measurable financial decision, and not just a marketing one.
Our flagship Gjosa GS3 water-saving showerhead uses Jet-Fusion™ atomisation technology to deliver high-pressure showers using just 4.5 litres per minute, which equates to up to 65% less water and energy than standard units.
Installed across Best Western Plus South London, the GS3 cut water use by 1.4 million litres per year, saving over £18,000 annually with no loss of comfort. In high-usage environments, payback arrives in 3–5 months and delivers a five-year EBITDA boost of around £100,000.
The result isn’t just lower consumption, it’s measurable operational savings that finance teams can track and verify.
Building resilience, one fixture at a time
For large estates, the path to resilience doesn’t have to mean major refurbishments.
The fastest wins come from simple retrofits that deliver measurable results. No need for behaviour change, no operational downtime, just smarter tech that does more with less.
By cutting water and the energy required to heat it, Econovate solutions can help strengthen both sides of the balance sheet:
- Reduced operating costs from day one
- Improved EPC scores and ESG alignment
- Lower Scope 3 emissions through energy reduction
- Future-proof compliance with MWELS and the Environment Act
Water: the overlooked ESG metric
Carbon may dominate sustainability reports, but water is the metric that will define operational resilience in the decade ahead.
Ignoring it means higher costs, regulatory risk, and reputational gaps in ESG disclosure. Acting now means turning an emerging risk into a measurable advantage.
At Econovate, we’ve seen first-hand how fast these changes can add up. What starts as a small retrofit soon transforms into lasting operational value. It’s why we’re so passionate about helping businesses get ahead before regulation catches up.
If you’d like to see how water efficiency could perform across your estate, try our Savings Calculator or drop me a message directly. I’d be happy to run through the numbers with you and show how fast the GS3 can deliver payback across your portfolio.