How Restaurants Are Tackling Water Scarcity (and Why It's Important)

What’s the urgency around water use? 

Did you know that less than 1.2% of all water on Earth is available for human use? With projections indicating that, by 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population may face water shortages, the urgency of the situation cannot be overstated. Moreover, the financial impact of water risks reached a staggering US$301 billion in 2020, a figure that surpasses the cost of mitigating these risks fivefold. 

Water stress is no longer a distant threat looming on the horizon – it's knocking at our doors, demanding our attention. The food and beverage industry, like many others, is bearing the brunt of this crisis. In our Working Group, representatives from several businesses talked about their difficulties in sourcing produce like potatoes, lettuce and particularly tomatoes across Europe over the last few years, as adversely dry periods of weather led to localised drought. 

The hospitality industry is also a significant contributor to the problem. In the UK alone, on average, a pub or restaurant uses 4,000 litres of water every day and spends circa £4,500 on water per year, while leaky taps and pipes waste over three billion litres of water every day. (For context, that’s over 1,200 Olympic-sized swimming pools.) 

By 2050, England will need 28.5% more water each day to meet demand. With the average UK citizen using 145 litres of water per day (compared to 126 litres in Germany), and with the water industry expecting supply interruptions to increase by 25%, it's clear that action is needed now more than ever. 

Water risk encompasses a range of challenges beyond droughts, including heavy precipitation and flooding. These events can lead to infrastructure damage, water contamination, supply chain disruptions and agricultural losses. Heavy rainfall can overwhelm sewage systems, causing untreated wastewater discharge and pollution, while flooding can disrupt transportation networks and put a strain on stormwater management systems in urban areas. 

What can hospitality businesses do about water scarcity? 

The question now becomes, how can hospitality businesses adapt, mitigating these risks and actively reducing water use? Amidst the chaos, there are actions you can take – as we found in our recent Working Group, which focused on water risk and its implications for the F&B sector.  

The first step is to tackle the water use within your own operations. From implementing low-flow faucets to choosing water-efficient dishwashers, we saw how businesses are embracing technology in their efforts to minimise their water footprints. Setting goals and training staff are key, too. Each of these might be a small step, but taking steps like these speaks volumes about a restaurant’s commitment to sustainability.  

Find some practical actions you can take to reduce water use in-house here: 

How to reduce water use in your restaurant or hotel 

Tackling water use throughout the supply chain 

Reducing water use in-house is necessary and important, but where F&B businesses can really amplify their impact is in building supply chain resilience.  

Alongside a comprehensive discussion on water risk, our Working Group highlighted the critical need for restaurants and other food businesses to map the water risk in their supply chains. This is (by far) where the greatest contributions to the water footprint of F&B businesses lie.  

While this is a complex area to tackle, the opportunities outweigh the challenges. In mapping the water-related vulnerabilities within supply chains, companies can identify potential hotspots, evaluate risks and develop targeted strategies for mitigation – greatly amplifying the impact of their water reduction efforts. 

Whether it's scrutinising suppliers' water management practices, diversifying sourcing regions to mitigate regional water stress or using supplier engagement to drive sustainability initiatives, mapping water risk in supply chains lays the groundwork for proactive and effective risk management. Some businesses in the discussion shared that they’ve already explored how investing in their smaller producers could reduce the environmental impact of sourcing some of their key ingredients, such as herbs.  

Four key actions identified in the Working Group were as follows: 

Our Working Groups act as a helpful medium to facilitate conversations like these and share ideas. Collective action truly is a powerful strategy for businesses: by pooling resources and sharing expertise through third parties dedicated to addressing water concerns, larger, tangible progress can be made in the fight against water stress. 

More about our Working Groups 

The Sustainable Restaurant Association organises four Working Groups every year, suitable for larger businesses in our network (those with 10+ sites) and usually held in London. We believe in the power of collaboration and knowledge-sharing, and these sessions are designed to facilitate this. Through a guided group discussion on a selected theme, businesses can share ideas and challenges with one another, finding answers and taking inspiration from people in their field.