A Sainsbury’s store in Weymouth will be its first to become water neutral.
One hundred per cent of the Weymouth Gateway water demand will be met through water efficient infrastructure and offsetting partnerships in the local community.
Total water use within the local catchment area will not increase as a result of the store.
This approach will also be replicated at its new supermarket in Leicester, which will open at the end of November.
At the Weymouth store, 70 per cent of the water demand will be met through rainwater harvesting and other water efficient infrastructure. The remaining 30 per cent which needs to be drinking quality potable water for food preparation will be offset by sponsoring water saving initiatives at partner sites in the local community.
In order to offset this water use, it will work with Weymouth College and Wey Valley School to help them introduce water efficiency projects and reduce their water bills.
Sainsbury’s property director Neil Sachdev said: “Water scarcity is becoming a very real challenge and to ensure we have water in future we need to find ways to reduce what we use right now. Measuring, managing and reducing water use is one of the most important focus areas for our business and one of the targets in our 20 x 20 Sustainability Plan.
“From experience we believe we can help safeguard what we’ll need in the future by taking action now. By collaborating with our partners and suppliers to better understand the amount of water we’re using in our operations and supply chain, we can start to put measures in place like water neutral to help reduce the amount we use and address this global challenge.”
