EN1.3.6
Water Supply and Treatment
Environment
- Measuring GHG Emissions
Water Supply and Treatment
“Water Supply and Treatment” refers to the entire process of delivering clean, safe, and sufficient water to people, communities, or industries—and then treating wastewater or used water so it can be safely returned to the environment or reused. It involves two main components:
- Water supply conversion factors help estimate the environmental impact (e.g. energy use, emissions) or cost of water delivered through the mains supply network—typically provided by a public or municipal utility. These factors often depend on how the water was extracted, treated, and transported.
- Water treatment conversion factors apply to wastewater that is returned to the sewage system (mains drains), where it undergoes treatment before discharge or reuse. These factors account for the energy and chemicals used during wastewater treatment.
This value links to the Master Value EN1 GHG Emissions value.
Key Value
£252 per tCO2e or 25.2p per kgCO2e
The monetised value of CO2 emissions for water supply and treatment
- Water supply: £0.039 per cubic metres
- Water treatment: £0.047 per cubic metres
This value represents a cost or disbenefit through the creation of the GHGs emitted.
Conversion factors should be used to report Scope 3 emissions for water supply and treatment. For more information about principles for GHG accounting and reporting and three “scopes” of emissions, please visit MeasureUp EN1 GHG Emissions value.
According to the 2021 carbon values from DESNZ/BEIS, Carbon values in £2020 prices per tonne of CO2: central series for 2023 is £252 per tCO2e or 25.2p per kgCO2e. For more information, please visit MeasureUp GHG Emissions value.
UK government’s Greenhouse Gas Conversion Factors – 2024 reports the kgCO2e for water emissions. Access the data.
| Activity | Unit | kg CO2e | Monetised value |
| Water supply | cubic metres | 0.15311 | £0.039 |
| Water treatment | cubic metres | 0.18574 | £0.047 |
Please visit the government conversion factors for greenhouse gas reporting website for further guidance.
This value represents a cost or disbenefit through the creation of the GHGs emitted. The value should therefore not be presented as a positive value or added to an overall social value figure.
Local Needs Analysis Data Source
Before using this MeasureUp value, we encourage you to assess the local need in relation to the activity or outcome.
Here is the most useful initial data source for assessing local need in relation to this value.
To do a local needs analysis for water supply and water treatment use the Local Authority Consumption Account tool which allows you to view and compare Carbon Footprint for localities across the UK.
You can generate graphs that shows the water consumption emissions for different UK regions at different points in time. You can view emissions for a single region or compare multiple regions, broken down by different categories and subcategories, with the option to switch between per capita and total emissions figures. When comparing multiple regions, per capita tends to be a more useful measure.
Bronze
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
At the Bronze level, you should calculate the approximate CO2 emissions from water supply and water treatment. Represent the cost or disbenefit of the emissions from the water emissions.
Here’s an example
A construction company uses 10,000 cubic metres of mains-supplied water in a year. All this water is returned through the sewage system for treatment.
| Activity | Unit | Amount Used | Monetised value per unit | Total £ Value |
| Water supply | cubic metres | 10,000 m³ | £0.039 | £390 |
| Water treatment | cubic metres | 10,000 m³ | £0.047 | £470 |
Monetised value of the water emissions is £390 + £470 = £860
Gold
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
At the Gold level, you would be expected to
- Measure more accurately using more specific data for you in-scope activities.
- Track the emissions over time. Steps in tracking emissions (choosing a base year and recalculating base year emissions) are explained in detail in the GHG Protocol Chapter 5 – Tracking Emissions Over Time
Here’s an example
A construction company uses 10,000 cubic metres of mains-supplied water in 2023. All this water is returned through the sewage system for treatment.
| Activity | Unit | Amount Used | Monetised value per unit | Total £ Value |
| Water supply | cubic metres | 10,000 m³ | £0.039 | £390 |
| Water treatment | cubic metres | 10,000 m³ | £0.047 | £470 |
Monetised value of the water emissions is £390 + £470 = £860
A construction company uses 8,000 cubic metres of mains-supplied water in 2023. All this water is returned through the sewage system for treatment.
| Activity | Unit | Amount Used | Monetised value per unit | Total £ Value |
| Water supply | cubic metres | 8,000 m³ | £0.039 | £312 |
| Water treatment | cubic metres | 8,000 m³ | £0.047 | £376 |
Monetised value of the water emissions is £312 + £376 = £688
So, the monetised value of the reduction in greenhouse gas emission from 2023 to 2024 for water usage is £860 – £688 = £172.
Gold+
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
In the Gold+ level of GHG emission values, you can focus on better management and improvement of your reporting on the GHG emissions.
The following steps could be useful:
- Set clear targets and a target date
- Provide resources to take the actions necessary to meet your target
Environmental Reporting Guidelines: In the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting Guidance (SECR) there are two types of targets outlined:
- An absolute reduction target which compares absolute figures in the target year to the base year
- An intensity target based in an appropriate other unit or normalising factor (e.g. kgCO2e per km/miles driven)
For more information please visit Environmental Reporting Guidelines: Including streamlined energy and carbon reporting guidance (SECR).
The actions under Gold+ for the environmental values in MeasureUp are also in line with the eighth Principle of Social Value ‘Be Responsive’ which represents the imperative for organisations to respond to impact measurement or ‘Social Value accounts’ with action to improve positive impact and decrease negative impact. Users of this Standard will create a structured ‘impact management approach’ that can guide decision making at strategic, tactical, and operational levels to optimise impacts on wellbeing.
| Value Type: | Activity |
What's this?
This is the type of value. Some values are outcomes, which means many different interventions might lead to them, while others are specific interventions that have a set value. |
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| UN SDG Categories: |
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What's this?
The UN Sustainable Development Goals are global goals adopted in 2015 for all signed up nations to achieve for us to have a sustainable global future by 2030. There are 17 Goals that address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. The Goals are all interconnected, and in order to leave no one behind, it is important that we achieve them all by 2030. |
| 2020 Social Value Models: |
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What's this?
PPN 06/20 Taking account of social value in the award of central government contracts introduced the Central Government Social Value Model in 2020 which all Central Government contracting authorities must use in their in scope procurements. It consists of 5 themes, 8 policy outcomes, and 24 Model Award Criteria which outline key priority areas to achieve more social value. |
| 2025 Social Value Models: |
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What's this?
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Evidence
Measure Up focuses on empowering you to numerically measure the impact you’re having. We recommend that numeric reports are backed up with stories and other types of evidence to help illustrate, in human terms, the impact that’s being made on individuals.
We recommend seeing consent from one or more participants in your intervention to collect and tell their story. This should include a little background on the participant, a summing up of life before the intervention, the human impact of the intervention, and the longer term (if known) impact on the person’s life outside of, and after, the intervention.
Providing photographs, audio recordings, video interviews or even artefacts from the intervention (for example, writing, paintings, music, etc from creative interventions) can add more colour, and convey the emotional impact of interventions more directly.
In some cases it’s appropriate to anonymise or abbreviate the personal information of case study participants. No story should be published or shared without the recorded consent of the individual(s) it concerns. Individuals continue to own the rights to their stories and if they request you stop sharing the story or making it available online you should do so promptly and without need for justification.
Feedback
Measure Up is an open, collaborative and transparent. If you have any suggestions or feedback on our pragmatic, recommended approach to measuring and valuing social value, including wellbeing, economic, and fiscal impact, and effects on our environment, please get in touch so we can share and discuss this at our next Advisory Group meeting.
More help
We want to empower anyone to perform and improve their impact measurement – without needing a degree in economics.
If you need any more help, or just someone to do the legwork for you we can help signpost you to software, training and consultancy to help you get to grips with the impact you’re having.
