When water is valued, sustainability follows: reducing leakage and promoting water reuse

According to the UN, the failure to fully value water in all its different uses lies at the heart of its political neglect and mismanagement. Yet, determining its 'true' value as a natural resource is highly complex and widely recognised as an impossible task. Using London as a case study, we revisit a key infrastructure decision made approximately two decades ago by the capital's water/wastewater service provider. In response to a regulatory request to increase water supply, the company ultimately prioritised the development of a desalination plant over large-scale mains replacement to address systemic leakage, on the basis of cost-effectiveness – a decision that has since proven highly problematic. This analysis re-examines that decision and compares the natural capital value of water to its replacement cost as a means for improving how water is valued in the process. Findings demonstrate that adopting a whole water cycle perspective and incorporating the natural capital value of water into decision-making, more sustainable outcomes emerge. Assigning such value to the water abstracted from nature, water companies and utilities can make better-informed investment decisions and promote sustainable alternatives that can ultimately decouple urban water consumption from the depletion and pollution of water resources.