Public sector initiatives benefit from Business Stream’s Water Efficiency Fund

Edinburgh-based water retailer Business Stream has delivered nearly £100,000 of funding to nine public sector initiatives, including two in the capital through its annual Public Sector Scotland (PSS) Water Efficiency Fund.

The fund is part of a commitment made by the company to support public bodies across Scotland to deliver water efficiency projects designed to deliver environmental and financial savings.

One of this year’s successful candidates is Edinburgh Council, which will use the funds to purchase portable flow meters to help proactively manage water use at its sites and help drive a business case for purchasing additional automatic meter reading (AMR) equipment.

The Council will also commission a project to install urinal controls at one of the Local Authority’s secondary schools to help reduce water wastage and increase efficiency.

Edinburgh College also received funding, which it will use to undertake a full water efficiency audit at one of its sites to help identify water conservation solutions to help reduce overall consumption levels.

In addition to providing the funding, Business Stream will also support the delivery of each project.

Chief Executive of Business Stream, Jo Dow said: “As a responsible business, we are passionate about reducing our impact on the environment and helping our customers to do the same. It’s fantastic to be able to offer this fund to public sector bodies that are committed to reducing their water use and generating environmental savings.

“The judging panel members were incredibly impressed with the ingenuity of the applications and we’re now looking forward to supporting these projects to help deliver environmental and, in many cases, financial benefits too.”

A spokesperson from the Scottish Procurement Utilities team added: “Scottish Procurement and Property acknowledges the Business Stream approach to pro-active water management.

“The annual Water Efficiency Fund has identified projects which will deliver water resource savings and education opportunities. The Water Efficiency Fund supports the opportunity to reduce water consumption and provide financial savings for public sector customers of the ‘Water and Waste Water Framework.’”

The fund allocation process was overseen by a judging panel comprising representatives from Business Stream, the Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges (APUC), public sector bodies and Scottish Procurement.

In 2021, Business Stream announced that it has saved Scotland’s public sector over £1 million in water costs during the first year of its three-year contract. Just under £1.4 million of savings were delivered to the sector through the retailer’s efficiency measures, helping to save 885 million litresof water in the process – the equivalent of 354 Olympic sized swimming pools.