A Day at Ally Pally: Understanding Our Customer’s Water Supply
We Recently Visited Alexandra Palace…
one of our valued water customers, to meet with members of their engineering and environmental team and carry out a detailed review of the site’s water supply.
Affectionately known as Ally Pally, Alexandra Palace is one of London’s most iconic historic venues. Opened in 1873 as the “People’s Palace”, it has played an important role in London’s cultural history.
And, over the years, it has hosted exhibitions, concerts, sporting events and many other major occasions. It also famously became the birthplace of regular public television broadcasting in the UK.
Understanding Alexandra Palaces’ Water Use First-Hand
Today, operating a historic site of this size and complexity brings a unique set of challenges – including how water is supplied, managed and used across the estate.
As their water broker, visiting the site gives us valuable insight beyond what bills and meter data can provide. Walking the site with the Ally Pally team helped us better understand its water infrastructure and how supply is used. It also highlighted the different areas and considerations that need to form part of our ongoing review.
More Than Managing Water Contracts
For us, being a water broker is about more than managing contracts and analysing consumption. It’s about understanding our customers’ operations first-hand so we can provide the right support and identify opportunities to manage water more effectively.
A big thank you to the engineering and environmental team at Alexandra Palace for their time and for showing us around. It was a fascinating site to visit, a really productive day, and a great opportunity to spend time with one of our customers.
Why Water Benchmarking Matters for Multi-Site Hospitality Businesses
If you operate multiple hospitality sites, you’ll know that no two locations are exactly the same. But when one hotel, pub or restaurant is using significantly more water than another, do you know why? Water benchmarking can help you find out.
By comparing water consumption across your hospitality estate, you can identify unusual patterns, highlight sites that may need attention and uncover opportunities to reduce both water usage and costs.
What Is Water Benchmarking?
Water benchmarking is the process of comparing water consumption across your sites to understand how each location is performing. For a hospitality business with multiple locations, simply looking at the total amount of water used doesn’t always tell you very much. A large hotel will naturally use more water than a small restaurant, for example. Instead, water consumption can be considered alongside relevant operational factors such as:
- Number of bedrooms.
- Occupancy levels.
- Number of covers.
- Floor area.
- Site type.
- Trading levels.
- Comparable locations within your estate.
This can give you a much clearer picture of how efficiently individual sites are using water.
Why Is Water Benchmarking Important For Multi-Site Hospitality Businesses?
When you manage dozens – or even hundreds – of hospitality locations, it can be difficult to know which sites are performing as expected and which require further investigation.
Benchmarking allows you to look across your estate and quickly identify outliers.
If several similar restaurants are using broadly comparable amounts of water but one location is consuming considerably more, there could be a reason worth investigating. It could be a hidden leak. It could be inefficient equipment. There could be an issue with meter readings or billing data. Or the site may simply have opportunities to use water more efficiently. Without benchmarking, these differences can be much harder to spot.
Water Benchmarking Can Help Identify Leaks and Unusual Consumption
Water leaks aren’t always obvious.
A leak can continue unnoticed for weeks or months, particularly at busy hospitality sites where teams are understandably focused on customers and day-to-day operations. Regularly monitoring and benchmarking consumption can make unusual increases easier to identify.
If a site’s consumption suddenly moves outside its normal range, or becomes significantly higher than comparable sites, that provides a reason to investigate further. Identifying the issue sooner could prevent unnecessary water consumption and avoid costs continuing to build.
Use Water Data To Prioritise The Right Sites
One of the biggest benefits of benchmarking a large hospitality estate is that it helps you decide where to focus your attention first. Rather than trying to investigate every location at once, benchmarking can help highlight the sites where there may be the greatest opportunity.
You can use the data to identify:
- Sites with unusually high consumption.
- Locations where consumption has increased.
- Sites performing significantly differently from comparable locations.
- Potential candidates for water audits or leak investigations.
- High-performing sites whose practices could potentially be replicated elsewhere.
This allows facilities, sustainability and operational teams to take a more targeted approach.
Benchmarking Can Help Reduce Your Water Costs
Reducing unnecessary water consumption doesn’t just reduce the amount of water you buy.
Depending on your site’s charges, reducing consumption may also lower associated wastewater costs. There can also be wider savings where water needs to be heated, pumped or otherwise used as part of an operational process. Across one location, an improvement might appear relatively small.
Across a hospitality estate of 50, 100 or 500 sites, however, those improvements can add up. That’s why benchmarking is particularly useful for larger multi-site operators: it allows you to look beyond individual bills and understand the bigger picture across your portfolio.
Measure Water Efficiency Improvements Over Time
Benchmarking isn’t only about finding problems.
It can also help you understand whether the changes you’re making are delivering results.
If you’ve introduced water-saving equipment, changed operating procedures or addressed high consumption at particular locations, ongoing benchmarking allows you to compare performance before and after those changes.
It also provides a stronger foundation for setting realistic water reduction targets and tracking progress across your hospitality estate.
Your Water Broker Should Help You Understand Consumption, Not Just Price
For multi-site hospitality businesses, managing water effectively should go beyond negotiating a competitive retail contract.
As a specialist business water broker working with the hospitality sector, we can help you look at the data behind your water bills and understand what’s happening across your estate.
By benchmarking consumption between sites, we can help identify unusual usage, highlight locations that may require further investigation and uncover potential opportunities to reduce water consumption and cost.
Because when you have a large portfolio of hospitality sites, knowing where to look can be just as important as knowing what you’re paying.
Agriculture’s Water Challenge Is Changing
Agricultural water management is no longer only about what a business needs today. It is increasingly about ensuring the operation has the resilience to meet its water requirements in the years ahead.
Water Resources East highlights changing rainfall patterns, more frequent drought conditions, increasing demand and the need to retain more water within the environment as important considerations for agricultural water planning. For farms dependent on irrigation and abstraction, this makes understanding future requirements particularly important.
For agricultural businesses, this raises a bigger question: do you have a water strategy that is fit for the future?
Is Efficiency The Answer For Agricultural Businesses?
Efficiency is part of the answer. Smarter irrigation, sensors, metering, monitoring and leak detection can help businesses understand consumption and make better use of the water available.
But resilience may also require looking beyond consumption. Rainwater harvesting, winter abstraction and reservoir storage, water reuse and shared water-resource solutions could all play a role, depending on the operation.
The Regulatory Picture Matters Too.
The Environment Agency’s guidance on GOV.UK sets out abstraction licensing requirements in England, while Natural Resources Wales, SEPA in Scotland and DAERA/NIEA in Northern Ireland oversee water abstraction within their respective nations. These frameworks reinforce the importance of understanding where water comes from, how it is used and the risks around future availability.
What Is Water Abstraction?
Water abstraction simply means taking water from a natural source for use by a business.
For example, a farm might abstract water from a river, stream, lake, spring or underground source such as a borehole, then use that water for crop irrigation, livestock, cleaning or other agricultural activities – rather than via the mains.
In England, abstraction is regulated by the Environment Agency, and in many circumstances taking more than 20 cubic metres (20,000 litres) per day requires an abstraction licence.
This is why water should increasingly be treated as a strategic business resource, rather than simply another utility bill.
A good water strategy starts with the fundamentals: what are you using, where is it coming from, what are you paying, and where are the risks, inefficiencies and opportunities?
How Can A Business Water Broker Add Value?
By bringing together water costs, consumption data, supply arrangements and longer-term requirements, a broker can help agricultural businesses build a clearer picture of their water position and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, manage costs and strengthen resilience.
The businesses that plan ahead will be better placed to respond as pressures on water evolve.
The question is no longer simply what your water costs today. It is whether you have a water strategy for tomorrow.
Is Water the Forgotten Utility in Education Estates?
For education estates teams, the start of a new academic year brings competing priorities. Buildings return to full occupancy, maintenance programmes restart, budgets are put into action and sustainability targets remain firmly on the agenda.
Yet when conversations turn to utilities, one resource often receives less attention: water.
The forgotten utility?
Energy has understandably dominated estates strategies in recent years. Rising costs, net zero commitments and the transition to lower-carbon buildings have made electricity and gas highly visible at board and operational level.
Water rarely commands the same attention.
But across complex education estates – from classrooms and laboratories to accommodation, catering and sports facilities – water is fundamental to daily operations.
The challenge is that much of this consumption happens quietly in the background.
A small change in usage may attract little attention at one building. Across a large university campus or Multi-Academy Trust, however, small inefficiencies multiplied across hundreds of fixtures, facilities and occupants can become significant.
From utility bill to operational data
Perhaps the bigger opportunity is to change how we think about water. Rather than treating it simply as another bill to be paid, water consumption can be viewed as a source of operational insight.
When does consumption peak? What happens when buildings are unoccupied? Why do apparently similar sites have very different usage profiles? And what does a sudden change tell us about the way a building is operating? These questions shift the conversation from “What did we spend?” to “What is our estate telling us?”
That distinction matters.
For estates teams managing ageing infrastructure and limited budgets, better visibility can help identify where attention is genuinely needed rather than relying solely on reactive maintenance.
Water deserves a place in the wider estates conversation
The pressure on education estates isn’t likely to disappear. Teams are being asked to control expenditure, maintain increasingly complex buildings and demonstrate progress against environmental objectives – often simultaneously. Water won’t be the largest line on every utility budget. But that shouldn’t determine its strategic importance.
As the new academic year begins, perhaps the question for estates leaders isn’t simply how much water their organisation uses.
It’s whether they understand where it is being used, why it is being used and what that consumption can tell them about the performance of their estate.
Because the utilities we pay the least attention to can sometimes tell us the most.
Turning water data into better decisions
The challenge for many education estates isn’t a lack of data – it’s making that data meaningful.
Across multiple sites, meters and buildings, consumption information can quickly become difficult to interpret. The real value comes from bringing that information together, identifying patterns and turning it into something estates teams can act on.
This is where Wodr can help.
By helping education organisations manage and make sense of their water data, Wodr can provide greater visibility across an estate – making it easier to understand consumption, identify unusual usage and focus attention where it matters most.
Because better water management doesn’t start with using less. It starts with understanding more.
How Are Business Surface Water Drainage Charges Calculated?
If your business pays for surface water drainage, how do you know whether the charge is correct? This is where things become more technical.
There is no single surface water drainage tariff covering every UK business. The charging methodology depends on factors including the wastewater wholesaler serving the property and its applicable charging scheme.
For many commercial properties, one of the most important factors is site area.
Understanding Site-Area Charging
Ofwat confirms that a number of water companies use site-area-based charging for surface water drainage.
In simple terms:
Chargeable Site Area → Charging Band/Tariff → Annual Drainage Charge
This means a larger commercial property can potentially pay considerably more than a smaller one.
But there is an important distinction:
The total size of a property isn’t necessarily the same as its chargeable drainage area.
That is where businesses need to look more closely.
How to Check Your Surface Water Charge
Start with your water bill.
Identify charges described as:
- Surface Water Drainage;
- SWD;
- Site Area Drainage;
- Property Drainage; or
- Highway Drainage.
Then establish which wastewater wholesaler serves the property and the charging methodology being applied.
Next, establish the actual site area.
This can involve information from:
- site plans;
- lease plans;
- architectural drawings;
- drainage plans;
- mapping;
- aerial imagery; and
- physical measurements.
You can then start examining how individual areas of the property drain.
Calculate the Drainage Footprint
A useful way of approaching a commercial site is to divide it into separate areas.
For example:
| Area | Size | Drainage |
|---|---|---|
| Warehouse roof | 5,000 m² | Public sewer |
| Car park | 3,000 m² | Soakaway |
| Service yard | 2,000 m² | Public sewer |
| Landscaped area | 2,000 m² | Natural drainage |
The total site is 12,000 m².
But that doesn’t automatically mean all 12,000 m² should be treated identically for surface water charging.
The important technical question is:
Which areas ultimately contribute surface water to the public sewer?
Follow the Water
An impermeable surface does not automatically mean that its rainwater enters the public sewer.
A car park, for example, might discharge into an infiltration system.
Likewise, having private drainage doesn’t necessarily mean the water avoids the public sewer.
Consider:
Car Park → Private Drain → Public Sewer
The water still ultimately reaches the public network.
Compare that with:
Car Park → Drainage Channel → Soakaway → Ground
The drainage destination is fundamentally different.
For this reason, a proper assessment needs to establish the final destination of the surface water, rather than simply identifying drains on the property.
Common Reasons Charges Can Be Wrong
Problems can arise where:
- the recorded site boundary is incorrect;
- the recorded area is wrong;
- land has been sold or divided;
- a site has been redeveloped;
- soakaways haven’t been accounted for;
- drainage arrangements have changed;
- naturally draining areas have been incorrectly assessed; or
- historical information no longer reflects the current property.
Ofwat specifically recommends checking whether the estimated site area is correct and whether areas that drain naturally have been included.
Could You Be in the Wrong Charging Band?
This can be particularly important under banded site-area charging.
Suppose a business is currently assessed on a 15,000 m² drainage area.
A technical review establishes that a significant part of the property drains through qualifying alternative arrangements and the corrected chargeable area is materially lower. If that correction moves the property into a different charging band, the annual cost could fall.
The potential saving should therefore be calculated using the specific wholesaler’s charging methodology, rather than applying a generic national £/m² figure.
Helping A Property Management Team Navigate Complex Utility Procurement With Confidence
Supporting a multi-site commercial property portfolio with straightforward, responsive water and energy brokerage.
Managing water and energy across a commercial property portfolio can be complex. Tenants move in and out, responsibility for supplies changes, contracts expire at different times, and routine administration can quickly become time-consuming.
For Catherine, Facilities Manager at Holloway Iliffe & Mitchell, having a trusted broker provides the expertise and guidance needed to navigate water and energy procurement across a changing portfolio.
Holloway Iliffe & Mitchell manages commercial property on behalf of landlords, with approximately 30 active supplies registered directly to landlords, alongside a further 10–12 supplies where tenants have vacated.
In these cases, the landlord temporarily becomes responsible for the supply until a new tenant takes over and the Change of Tenancy (COT) is processed. This creates an environment where effective water and energy management is about much more than simply finding a competitive price.
The challenge of managing utilities across multiple properties
Managing multiple utility supplies brings a significant administrative burden, particularly when properties regularly change occupancy. Supplier communication, billing, account administration and Changes of Tenancy all need to be managed correctly – and when something goes wrong, resolving it can consume valuable time. Speaking specifically about her experience with energy suppliers, Catherine explains:
“The primary issues we face consistently include administrative friction with billing portals, poor communication, and delays in processing Changes of Tenancy (COTs).”
She also highlights the time that can be lost dealing with routine supplier administration:
“We waste significant time dealing with excessive hold times to reach customer service and navigating repetitive GDPR scripting.”
For Facilities Managers responsible for numerous properties, these issues aren’t isolated inconveniences. They can become an ongoing operational challenge.
That’s where having an experienced water and energy broker can make a difference. Brokerage is about more than switching suppliers Finding the right utility solution doesn’t always mean switching to a new supplier.
For Holloway Iliffe & Mitchell, avoiding unnecessary administrative complications is an important consideration alongside price and contract terms. When it comes to energy, the business has recently chosen to renew with incumbent suppliers where appropriate. Catherine explains:
“This approach entirely eliminates the administrative burden of resolving final invoices from outgoing suppliers. It also prevents data flow-form errors and incorrect meter readings during transitions, thereby successfully eliminating subsequent billing disputes.”
This reflects an important part of Wodr’s approach to water and energy brokerage. Our role isn’t simply to recommend a switch. It’s to understand how a customer’s portfolio operates, assess the available options and provide guidance on the approach that makes commercial and operational sense. Sometimes that may mean moving supplier. In other circumstances, remaining with the incumbent may be the better option.
Bringing expertise to property management water and energy procurement
Facilities Managers have a huge range of responsibilities, and they can ‘t be expected to be experts in every aspect of the water and energy markets. Having access to specialist knowledge is therefore an important part of the broker relationship.
As Catherine explains:
“As someone who is not au fait with energy procurement, I must rely entirely on the expertise and professional guidance of a broker.”
For Wodr, that means making complex utility decisions easier to understand and providing customers with clear, practical advice. Catherine particularly values the communication and transparency she receives:
“Highly communicative, always provides prompt answers, and is completely transparent and straight down the line.”
These are principles we aim to deliver across the Wodr team and across both water and energy brokerage (via Utility Stream): responsive communication, specialist knowledge, transparency and straightforward advice.
Supporting a changing commercial property portfolio
Property portfolios aren’t static. Tenants leave, new occupiers arrive and landlords can temporarily become responsible for water and energy supplies during vacant periods. For Holloway Iliffe & Mitchell, this means utility requirements can change throughout the year.
Having a broker that understands this environment provides continuity. Rather than looking at an individual water or energy contract in isolation, we can consider the wider portfolio and help customers navigate procurement and renewals as their requirements evolve.
The value of that relationship isn’t measured solely by a percentage saving. It’ s also about having access to expertise when it’ s needed and a team that understands the complexities involved in managing utilities across multiple commercial properties.
Making commercial utilities simpler for property management teams
At Wodr, we help businesses navigate water procurement with clear advice, responsive service and a focus on finding the right solution for their circumstances.
For property and Facilities Management teams in particular, that means understanding that utility management doesn’t begin and end with securing a contract. From changing occupancies and multiple sites to procurement decisions and renewals, our aim is to make managing commercial water and energy simpler.
Managing water and energy across multiple commercial properties?
Talk to our team today about how our water and energy brokerage team can support your portfolio.
What Are Surface Water Drainage Charges? A Guide for UK Businesses
Surface water drainage is one of the most commonly misunderstood charges on a business water bill.
Unlike metered water charges, it isn’t necessarily related to how much water your business consumes. Instead, surface water drainage (SWD) is the charge associated with rainwater from your property entering the public sewer network.
For businesses with large roofs, car parks, loading yards and other hard surfaces, this can become a significant annual cost.
What Is Surface Water Drainage?
When rain falls onto a commercial property, it has to go somewhere.
Rain falling onto roofs, car parks and hardstanding may enter drains that eventually connect to the public sewer system. The wastewater wholesaler has to provide infrastructure capable of receiving and managing that water.
This creates the surface water drainage charge.
A simple example is:
Rain → Roof → Gutter → Drain → Public Sewer
However, not every property drains this way.
Rainwater could instead enter a:
- soakaway;
- infiltration system;
- Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS);
- watercourse;
- rainwater harvesting system; or
- other private drainage arrangement.
Where water does not ultimately enter the public sewer, this can potentially affect how the property should be charged.
Ofwat advises businesses to check whether areas that drain naturally have been included within their chargeable site area.
Who Is Most Affected?
Surface water drainage deserves particular attention where a business occupies a large physical site, regardless of how much mains water it consumes.
Examples include:
- warehouses and distribution centres;
- manufacturing sites;
- retail parks and supermarkets;
- industrial estates;
- schools and universities;
- hospitals;
- hotels and leisure facilities;
- vehicle depots; and
- large offices with extensive car parking.
Consider a warehouse using relatively little mains water but occupying a 20,000 m² site.
Its water consumption may be modest, but thousands of square metres of roof, yard and parking could generate significant quantities of surface water.
This is why businesses should not assess their water costs purely by looking at consumption.
Surface Water Drainage vs Highway Drainage
These charges are easily confused.
Surface water drainage relates to rainwater from your property entering the public sewer.
Highway drainage relates to rainwater from public roads and highways entering the sewer network.
Reducing or removing surface water drainage from a property does not therefore automatically remove highway drainage charges.
Why Should Businesses Check Their Charges?
The information used to calculate a property’s drainage charges may not always reflect what is happening on the ground today. Properties are extended. Land is sold. Car parks are resurfaced. Drainage systems are altered. Soakaways are installed. Buildings are demolished. If the charging information isn’t updated accordingly, the business could potentially continue paying based on an outdated assessment.
For larger businesses and multi-site organisations, even relatively small inaccuracies can accumulate into substantial unnecessary expenditure. The first question is therefore simple:
Where does the rainwater from your property actually go?
If the answer doesn’t match the assumptions behind your water bill, the charges may be worth investigating.
Hosepipe Bans Are the Warning Light – The Bigger Story Is Water Scarcity
Every summer it seems to happen.
Temperatures climb, reservoirs fall, and another hosepipe ban makes the headlines. For many people, it’s an inconvenience. For businesses, it’s easy to dismiss as something that doesn’t really affect them.
But recurring hosepipe bans are worth paying attention to—not because they stop people watering their gardens, but because they are an early warning sign of a much bigger challenge.
The question isn’t whether we’ll see another hosepipe ban next summer. The question is what happens when these become a regular feature of life in the UK.
Hosepipe ban map | Independent
A Hosepipe Ban Isn’t the Problem
Water companies introduce Temporary Use Bans (hosepipe bans) to reduce demand during periods of prolonged dry weather. Restricting non-essential household use helps preserve supplies while keeping water flowing to homes, hospitals and businesses.
In isolation, they’re a sensible short-term measure.
The concern is that we’re seeing them more frequently.
Hotter summers, changing rainfall patterns, population growth and ageing infrastructure are all placing greater pressure on the UK’s water network. While winter rainfall can still be significant, longer dry spells mean reservoirs and groundwater don’t always recover as quickly as they once did.
The result is a system with less resilience.
Water Is Becoming a Business Risk
Most businesses won’t be directly affected by a hosepipe ban today.
But water scarcity doesn’t begin when taps run dry—it begins when reliability becomes less certain.
For organisations that depend on water, whether for manufacturing, food production, hospitality, healthcare or construction, even modest restrictions can create operational challenges.
Businesses may face:
- Rising water costs as investment in infrastructure increases.
- Greater scrutiny of water consumption.
- Pressure to improve efficiency and reduce waste.
- Potential restrictions during prolonged droughts.
- Supply chain disruption as suppliers face their own water challenges.
Just as energy security has become a board-level discussion over the past few years, water security is steadily moving in the same direction.
The Hidden Cost of Water Scarcity
Water doesn’t need to disappear for businesses to feel the impact.
Imagine a food manufacturer whose suppliers experience irrigation restrictions. Crop yields fall, raw material prices rise, and production costs increase throughout the supply chain.
Or consider a manufacturer that relies heavily on water for cooling or cleaning. If drought measures limit abstraction or increase operational costs, production becomes more expensive.
The knock-on effects are felt far beyond the businesses directly using large volumes of water.
Water scarcity becomes an economic issue rather than simply an environmental one.
Investing in Resilience
Addressing water scarcity will require significant investment.
Across the UK we’re already seeing plans for:
- New reservoirs.
- Water recycling schemes.
- Smarter water networks.
- Leakage reduction programmes.
- Interconnected regional supply networks.
- Greater use of digital monitoring and analytics.
These investments improve resilience, but they also come at a cost that will inevitably be reflected in future water bills.
For businesses, understanding and managing water use is becoming increasingly important—not just from a sustainability perspective, but from a financial one.
What Businesses Can Do Today
The organisations best prepared for the future won’t necessarily be those using the least water—they’ll be the ones that understand it.
That means:
- Monitoring consumption across sites.
- Identifying hidden leaks and inefficiencies.
- Benchmarking usage against similar organisations.
- Reviewing tariffs and supply arrangements.
- Investing in water efficiency where it delivers measurable returns.
Small improvements made today can reduce costs and improve resilience tomorrow.
Looking Beyond the Headlines
A hosepipe ban is visible. Water scarcity is gradual.
One makes the news for a few weeks; the other has the potential to reshape how businesses think about one of their most fundamental resources. As climate pressures continue and demand grows, water will increasingly be viewed in the same way organisations now think about energy: something to monitor, optimise and manage strategically.
For businesses, the message is simple.
Don’t wait until water becomes a problem. Start treating it as a resource worth managing today.
5 Ways Schools Can Check for Water Leaks During the Summer Holidays
The summer holidays give schools a valuable opportunity to carry out checks that can be difficult to complete during a busy term.
One of the most useful is checking for water leaks.
When pupils and most staff are away, water use should fall considerably. This makes it much easier to notice unusual consumption and identify potential problems before they lead to higher bills, wasted water or damage to the building.
At Wodr, we help schools understand and manage their water use more effectively. A simple leak check during the summer can be a practical first step.
Why is the summer break a good time to check?
During term time, schools use water throughout the day.
Toilets, kitchens, classrooms, science rooms, sports facilities and cleaning teams all contribute to normal consumption. With so much activity, it can be difficult to tell whether extra water use is caused by everyday operations or by a leak.
During the holidays, expected usage is much lower.
If the water meter continues to show steady or significant consumption when the site is mostly empty, this may suggest that water is being lost somewhere within the system.
Where might leaks occur?
Some leaks are easy to spot, while others can remain hidden for a long time.
Common areas to check include:
- Toilet cisterns that continue to run
- Taps that drip or do not close properly
- Urinals with faulty controls
- Underground pipework
- Outdoor taps and irrigation systems
- Storage tanks and float valves
- Heating and cooling equipment
- Older or damaged internal pipework
Even a small leak can waste a surprising amount of water if it continues for several weeks.
How can schools check for leaks?
1. Take a meter reading
Record the water meter reading before the school closes or at the start of a quiet period.
Taking a clear photograph can be helpful.
Check the meter again after a few days when little or no water should have been used. An unexplained increase may need further investigation.
2. Look at overnight water use
Schools with automated meter reading or online consumption data may be able to review hourly or half-hourly usage.
During the holidays, water use should usually fall very low overnight. A steady flow during periods when the building is empty can be a sign of a leak or an appliance that has been left running.
3. Walk through toilets and washrooms
Toilets are a common source of hidden water waste.
A cistern may continue to refill quietly, or water may trickle into the toilet pan without being immediately noticeable.
Listen for running water and check whether any toilets, taps or urinals appear to be operating when they should not be.
4. Check outdoor areas
Inspect outdoor taps, irrigation equipment, valve covers and visible pipework.
Unusually wet ground, standing water or a particularly green patch of grass during dry weather may indicate an underground leak.
5. Review recent bills and usage
Compare recent water consumption with the same period in previous years.
A noticeable increase that cannot be explained by building work, lettings or summer activities may point to a problem.
Why is early detection important?
Finding a leak early can help a school avoid unnecessary cost and disruption.
Leaks can:
- Increase water and wastewater charges.
- Cause damp, mould or structural damage.
- Waste large volumes of treated water.
- Affect sustainability targets.
- Lead to repair work during term time.
The sooner a possible leak is identified, the easier it is to investigate and resolve before pupils and staff return.
How Wodr can support schools
Wodr helps schools, academies and multi-academy trusts gain a clearer view of their water use.
By reviewing bills, consumption patterns and meter data, we can help identify unusual usage and highlight areas that may need further attention.
Where specialist investigation is required, we can also help connect schools with trusted leak detection and water management partners.
The summer holidays offer a quieter period in which to carry out these checks. A simple meter reading and a walk around the site could help prevent water waste, reduce costs and avoid an unexpected problem in September.
School Summer Holidays: How to Maintain Water Hygiene During the Six-Week Break
Every summer, schools across the UK prepare for one of their longest periods of reduced occupancy. While classrooms may sit empty, your water system shouldn’t be forgotten.
Six weeks of little or no water use creates the perfect conditions for water stagnation, increasing the risk of bacteria such as Legionella developing within pipework, storage tanks and outlets.
For school business managers, estates teams and facilities professionals, maintaining good water hygiene throughout the summer break is an essential part of health and safety compliance. At Wodr, we help organisations manage their water services efficiently. Here’s what every school should be doing to keep their water systems safe over the holidays.
Why does water hygiene matter?
When water remains stagnant for extended periods, its temperature can rise into the range where bacteria thrive. Legionella bacteria, which can cause Legionnaires’ disease, multiply most readily in warm, stagnant water.
Schools are responsible for managing this risk under the Health and Safety at Work Act, COSHH Regulations, and the Health and Safety Executive’s Approved Code of Practice L8.
Good water hygiene isn’t simply about compliance—it protects staff, contractors and pupils when buildings return to normal use.
Before the school closes
Preparation should begin before the final day of term.
A comprehensive pre-holiday inspection should include:
- Reviewing the school’s Legionella risk assessment.
- Identifying areas that will receive little or no water use during the holiday.
- Confirming hot water is stored at 60°C or above, with distribution temperatures reaching at least 50°C at outlets where appropriate.
- Checking that cold water remains below 20°C where practicable.
- Ensuring any water treatment equipment, filters or softeners are operating correctly.
- Isolating or removing redundant pipework or unused outlets where possible.
Taking these steps before the building empties helps reduce risks throughout the closure period.
Should schools flush their water systems during the holidays?
In most cases, yes.
Although the Health and Safety Executive does not specifically require weekly flushing, it does require schools to implement suitable control measures based on their Legionella risk assessment.
For many schools, weekly flushing remains the simplest and most effective way of preventing prolonged water stagnation.
During the holiday period, responsible staff or contractors should flush all infrequently used outlets, including:
- Classroom taps.
- Washroom facilities.
- Showers and changing rooms.
- Drinking water fountains.
- Kitchen sinks.
- Science laboratory outlets.
- Cleaner’s sinks.
- External hose connections.
Both hot and cold water should be flushed until fresh water has fully circulated through the system, typically between two and five minutes depending on the size of the building.
Each flush should be recorded in a maintenance log, noting the date, outlet and person carrying out the task.
Don’t forget showers
Showers present a higher risk because they create fine water droplets that can be inhaled.
Before schools reopen:
- Remove and clean shower heads where required.
- Descale and disinfect them in line with your water hygiene programme.
- Flush showers thoroughly before allowing them to be used.
If showers are flushed during the holidays, care should be taken to minimise aerosol generation wherever possible.
Preparing for September
The recommissioning process before staff and pupils return is arguably the most important stage of the school’s water hygiene programme.
Before reopening, schools should:
- Flush every water outlet throughout the building.
- Check hot and cold water temperatures at sentinel outlets.
- Verify water heaters are operating correctly.
- Restart any equipment that was isolated during the closure.
- Inspect storage tanks where required.
- Complete any scheduled maintenance identified in the Legionella risk assessment.
Where significant changes have been made to the water system—or concerns have been identified—additional microbiological sampling may also be recommended by your competent water hygiene contractor.
Keep accurate records
Water hygiene management doesn’t end with carrying out the work.
Schools should maintain clear records of:
- Weekly flushing activities
- Temperature monitoring
- Cleaning and disinfection of shower heads
- Water system inspections
- Maintenance and remedial works
- Any issues identified and actions taken
These records provide evidence that the school is effectively managing its legal responsibilities and can prove invaluable during inspections or audits.
How Wodr can help
Managing water hygiene involves more than simply paying your water bill.
As a specialist business water utilities broker, Wodr works with schools, academies and multi-academy trusts to help them manage every aspect of their water services. Alongside helping organisations secure competitive water contracts, we can connect customers with trusted water hygiene specialists, support effective water management, identify opportunities to reduce water consumption and improve operational efficiency across their estates.
Whether you’re responsible for a single primary school or an entire academy trust, taking a proactive approach to water hygiene helps protect your people, remain compliant and ensure your buildings are ready for a safe return in September.
Need support with your school’s water services?
If you’d like advice on water management, supplier performance or reducing water costs across your education estate, the Wodr team is here to help.