Networks November: Non-Household Water: Open Data, Industrial Demand and Emerging Risks
Draft Agenda
09:30-09:45 | Welcome and scene-setting
· Frame industrial and non-household water as an underserved sector conversation.
· Explain the engagement gap across business customers and the implications for water risk.
· Set the focus for the day: regulation, data, emerging risks and industry action.
09:45-10:30 | Keynote: The scale of the problem
· Explore water stress, business awareness and the implications for UK and European supply chains.
· Discuss abstraction licence reductions and the risk of businesses being caught unprepared.
· Connect water risk to finance, ESG, export support and national water-resource planning.
10:30-11:15 | Session 1: Smart meter data and business demand
· Examine what smart-meter data reveals about business and non-household consumption.
· Discuss peak demand, customer engagement and the regulatory barriers to proactive savings.
· Explore metering-policy gaps, funding constraints and technical issues such as boundary-box signal loss.
11:15-11:30 | Break
· Refreshments and networking.
· Informal discussion of business demand and smart-meter data themes.
· Transition into market structure and open-data content.
11:30-12:15 | Session 2: The non-household market: data, retailers and wholesalers
· Review open-data and data-sharing activity across wholesalers, retailers and the supply chain.
· Explore how smart-meter insight can be integrated into market systems and targeted interventions.
· Discuss missing supplies, unmetered demand, developer oversight and lessons from current pilots.
12:15-13:00 | Session 3: Industrial water risk and business resilience
· Explore supply-chain water management gaps across sophisticated users and their supplier networks.
· Discuss international water-risk models, co-investment and nature-based replenishment approaches.
· Consider industrial monitoring trends and the need for stronger sector organisation.
13:00-13:45 | Lunch
· Networking and informal discussion.
· Opportunity to connect market, industry and regulatory perspectives.
· Reset ahead of emerging-risk and reuse sessions.
13:45-14:15 | Session 4: Emerging industrial demands: data centres, semiconductors and PFAS
· Assess escalating water demand from data-centre cooling and semiconductor manufacturing.
· Explore water-quality risks from industrial processes and the need for UK preparedness.
· Discuss PFAS, legal risk, measurement capabilities and gaps in product disposal planning.
14:15-14:45 | Session 5: Water reuse for industrial and non-potable demand
· Explore the role of reuse in closing the projected water shortfall beyond efficiency alone.
· Discuss industrial and commercial case studies for rainwater and stormwater harvesting.
· Consider governance, accreditation, guidance and reuse-ready building requirements.
14:45-15:00 | Panel: Regulation, policy and what needs to change
· Identify regulatory changes that could unlock industrial water efficiency.
· Discuss how to close the awareness gap between large sophisticated users and SMEs.
· Define what a water-secure industrial business should look like over the next decade.