Water Efficiency Campaign (WEC) - Let's Save Water

Water is precious. In England and Wales, demand is rising while supply faces growing pressure from population growth and climate change. 

By 2055, England alone will need an extra five billion litres of water every day. In Wales, climate change is creating increasing uncertainty about future water supplies. 

Let’s Save Water launched in May 2026. It is a behaviour change campaign that helps people across England and Wales use water more efficiently and make water-saving part of everyday life.

What the campaign does 

Let’s Save Water provides clear information, practical guidance and tools to help households and businesses understand and reduce water use at home and at work.

The campaign is being delivered by the WEC Delivery Body, following a competitive procurement process.

The Water Efficiency campaign is backed by regulators and water companies.

Why this matters  

Water is a shared resource. The way we use it today affects what is available for people, the environment, and future generations.

No single organisation can address this challenge alone. Water companies, regulators, governments, businesses and individuals all have a role to play in using water wisely and protecting long-term supplies.

Reducing demand is also essential to keep future water supply costs down. Alongside investment in infrastructure, using water more efficiently helps ensure a resilient and affordable water system.

Ofwat’s role in the campaign 

Ofwat sets the strategic direction and set the funding for a national water efficiency campaign through the £100m Water Efficiency Fund (via the Price Control PR24). This ensures that investment for a campaign is ring-fenced and transparently governed.

Ofwat’s role in this work is to provide the regulatory and policy framework that supports and enables the campaign rather than delivering it directly.

The Water Efficiency Campaign is led by the WEC Delivery Body. Ofwat’s teams work closely with the delivery body to provide policy and strategic input into the campaign and aligning it with wider PR24 activity including water supply investment through Major Projects, RAPID, leakage reduction, and smart metering.

Ofwat works closely with the WEC Delivery Body to bring stakeholders together across regulators, water companies, governments and the sector to align efforts and ensure the campaign supports long-term water resilience.

While procuring the WEC Delivery Body as the delivery partner, Ofwat carried out work to gather a robust evidence base for a behaviour change campaign. These reports were used as a basis for the work that was then taken forward by the delivery body.

How is Ofwat responding to water demand challenges

Ofwat is taking action on three fronts: through setting challenging targets for water companies such as reducing leakage, increasing supply, and helping people use less water.

  • Through the PR24 settlement, water companies will roll out 10 million smart meters and reduce leakage by 17% over the next five years, backed by £1.7 billion of investment.
  • Thirty major infrastructure projects are in the RAPID and Major Project pipeline, including new reservoirs and transfer schemes, which will deliver an additional 1.4 billion litres of water a day.
  • The £100 million Water Efficiency Fund is driving a sustained, measurable reduction in water demand across England and Wales. It includes the Water Efficiency Lab, a challenge-led competition to find and scale innovations that reduce water use in homes and businesses.

Building our way out of the water challenge is not an option, and even if it were, it would be hugely expensive. New reservoirs and infrastructure are more costly solutions, so we need almost two-thirds of the capacity England will need by 2055 to come from reducing demand, not increasing supply. Changing how we use water is not just necessary, it is the most cost-effective tool we have.

The Water Efficiency Campaign delivers that demand-side response: the essential, affordable counterpart to infrastructure that no amount of new pipes or reservoirs can replace.

Get involved  

Visit the Let’s Save Water campaign website for more information.