WWT ROUND TABLE 2009
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severe droughts of the last century, in the
driest part of the country.
This is impacting on the environment
because every drop of water that comes out
of your tap, comes out of a river near you
somewhere but, if we all pull together and
do this, this and this – the sorts of things
Tony was talking about, concerning helping
people to understand what it is they can do
to help. It made a difference and we saw a
reduction in demand wthat appears to be
sustained in some quarters. Droughts are
good in many ways at getting the message
across but then, when it starts to rain again
and when Gloucester starts to flood, people
begin to ask, ‘Can’t we manage this better?’
John Cuthbert Communicating with
customers is a very significant challenge
because much of what we deal with in this
area, and in so many others, is of itself quite
complex. My starting point is that customers
do not really want to understand the
minutiae and so the key point is to try to
distil messages into something they can
absorb, and see some relevance to. The fact
that we go through hoops to develop
sustainable economic levels of leakage and
that there is a whole raft of calculations
behind that – the man in the street doesn’t
give too hoots about that at all.
If you take your petrol analogy, which I
thought was quite an interesting one, the
UK does not have enough petrol to meet John Cuthbert: Significant challenge
the needs of the people who live in the UK.
People in the UK expect somebody to of the people who are trying to engage Communicating that in a way in which the
actually manage that process and find ways them in that process. man in the street will understand is actually
to meet the legitimate demand. One of the As an industry, we have to make sure that pretty tricky.
big challenges for us is about what we our house is in order and that, at the same As most people will know, we have the
would like to do, and how we encourage time as encouraging them to contribute by great luxury of having one foot planted in
and engage customers. For me, it is a reducing their demand, we are doing all of the South-east where water resources are
matter of engagement, encouragement and the things that Ian mentioned earlier – rather a problem, and the other in the
involvement, rather than the big stick which means planning for the future. I don’t North-east. It will come as no surprise that
approach that lectures them and tells them: want to be part of an industry that ends up our messages are different. I don’t want to
“We don’t have enough water, and you’re like the energy sector, where there seems to run big water efficiency campaigns in the
using too much of it.” We have to encourage have been a total lack of future planning, North-east of England, where people have
them but, by the same token, it is critically with the consequence that people might be already paid for the provision of substantial
important that their response will be driven talking about the lights going out in 2013 – resources and – despite the overall statistics,
largely by the reputation and the credibility so we need some more power stations but and we tend sometimes to be a little South-
we don’t have the time to build them. east-centric – it rains rather a lot in the
We would really be letting down not just North East and customers notice that. We
“Communicating with the people who will be working in this have different customer groups, therefore,
industry in the future but also our customers but we also have to be sensitive to the
customers is a very
if we do not continue to endeavour to different geographies. That just complicates
significant challenge
achieve that right balance. We need to that communication challenge.
encourage and involve customers, and try to
because much of what
advise them on what they can do to help, Dan McCarthy What has been the reaction
while at the same time demonstrably being to customers using less but perhaps having
we deal with is quite
seen to be doing the things that are to pay the same amount, or more, on their
necessary to help combat the problem, water bill because there is a certain amount
complex” which undoubtedly will exist in the future. of structure that has to be paid for and
June 2009 Round Table 9