A NEW partnership has been announced that aims to improve water efficiency in Southampton.

Southampton City Council and Southern Water have teamed up to promote ways to reduce water consumption and encourage people across the region to review their own water use.

Demand for water has increased by over 70 percent in the last 20 years and water supplies are facing challenges that the council says “must be eased” to protect future supplies.

Water management is a key theme in the city council’s Green City Plan with several actions detailed to prevent wastage and provide support to residents and businesses to reduce demand.

The council has set many goals to tackle climate change and create a “cleaner, greener healthier and more sustainable” city.

It claims that working in partnership with key stakeholders allows a shared set of principles to be adopted across the city to ensure the environment is at the forefront of decision making.

Councillor Steve Leggett, Cabinet Member for Green City and Place, said the council is “delighted” to work with Southern Water as part of its Green City commitments.

“We are all being encouraged to consider our impact on the environment and to make simple changes to our lives, reducing the amount of water we use on a daily basis must be considered as one of the priority areas to review.

“Over the coming months, we are going to provide tips on how we can all reduce water usage and subsequently help us to save money.

“We need everyone in Southampton to consider water consumption in their efforts to be greener.”

Southern Water is part of the water industry Target 100 and are encouraging customers to use less than 100 litres of water a day.

Toby Willison, Director of Environment and Corporate Affairs at Southern Water, said: “The twin pressures of climate change and population growth are already creating huge challenges for our water scarce region.

“The need to protect the globally important habitats of the Test and Itchen chalk rivers only further strengthens our resolve that we should all treat water as a precious and valuable resource.”