Households across Scotland have saved 80 million litres of water as part of an ongoing water efficiency drive by Scottish Water.

Marking the start of Climate Week, Scottish Water have provided water efficiency advice and devices to thousands of homes in the past year and the water saved is enough to fill 32 Olympic sized swimming pools or 53 million full kettles.

The firm is now calling on even more people to join the drive to reduce their daily water usage.

Scottish Water said: "We're working in partnership with the Energy Saving Trust and Home Energy Scotland to help households save water, energy and money.

"This summer, Home Energy Scotland attended a host of summer events giving water efficiency advice and water waving devices to 30,000 households across the country.

"As a result of this we estimate that the 80 million litres of water saved could equate to a reduction in our carbon footprint of about 240 tonnes of CO2 equivalent – enough to heat almost 90 homes for a year.

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"Now we want more people to use water wisely and take simple steps to save water such as taking a shorter shower or only boiling what you need in the kettle. This will help the environment, with more water in our rivers, lochs and reservoirs."

Brian McCarthy, Scottish Water's reservoirs and supply demand manager, added: "These new figures show that a massive amount of water has been saved by people across Scotland after we have issued great water efficiency advice and provided devices such as shower timers and tap aerators to thousands of households.

"We would urge everyone to do what they can to reduce consumption of this precious resource and in turn help the environment and save money through reduced energy bills."

Water use accounts for 6% of UK carbon emissions, which is the same as the aviation industry - 1% of this is from collecting, treating and pumping drinking water to homes.

A huge amount of energy goes into making tap water safe to drink and Scottish Water is one of the largest single users of electricity in Scotland.

Our aim is to increase the amount of energy we generate or host by 300% more than the energy consumed.

Everyone can do their bit and reap the benefits. Around one fifth of household heating bills are spent on heating water. By using water wisely, a family of four can save 0.7 tonnes of CO2 and over £100 in reduced energy bills each year.

Last summer, Dunkeld and Birnam reached out to Scottish Water to ask the utility to support them in taking action on climate change.

We set them a challenge to save one million litres of water over a year by using our water efficiency advice and devices.

This summer Dunkeld and Birnam was named Scotland's first water efficient village after they exceeded their challenge, saving the equivalent of 3.5 tonnes of CO2.

(MH/CM)