FAQ

Brought to you by Cambridge Water, Yes We Cam is a powerfully simple initiative. It’s about making one small change to your everyday water habits to save our local chalk streams and rivers.

By choosing just one easy water-saving pledge, you’ll be a crucial part of our county’s biggest ever water-saving action, protecting and restoring Cambridgeshire’s precious chalk stream habitats for generations to come.

There are only around 200 chalk streams in the world, and over a quarter are right here in East Anglia. These rare habitats, including the Cam, are home to a rich array of native plants and animals, including brown trout, water voles, kingfishers, otters and swans.

But these precious habitats, as unique as the Amazonian rainforest or Great Barrier Reef, are under threat.

Your drinking water – essentially all of the water you use at home, from your taps to toilets – is supplied by local aquifers. These are the same groundwater sources that supply our chalk streams and rivers. The more we all use, the greater the pressure on our aquifers and chalk streams. If we don’t take collective action, these beautiful English landscapes could be damaged and even lost forever.

As reported by the Environment Agency in 2021, climate change and modern water usage are combining to make Greater Cambridge ‘seriously water stressed’.

With thriving biotech, R&D and other industries, Cambridgeshire is one of the country’s fastest growing regions, as well as one of the driest. Climate change models predict temperatures hotter than the national average, while Met Office projections show record low rainfall of 1.9mm a day – less than anywhere else in the UK.

With less rain, hotter weather, a growing population and rising modern water usage, our local groundwater sources – which also feed our chalk streams and rivers – are under pressure like never before.

Yes! Your water-saving will absolutely make a difference. Many, many people in Cambridgeshire – including among your friends, family, neighbours and colleagues – will be taking an easy water-saving pledge, and all those pledges add up to a huge daily water-saving total.

Last summer, we ran Can for the Cam – a campaign that asked Cambridgeshire residents to ditch their garden hose for a watering can. This resulted in a massive saving of 940,000 litres a day from July to September 2023. That’s the power of collective action, and why we can be so sure that your efforts will make a difference.

Simply choose the pledge you think will be easiest to incorporate into your daily lifestyle. The easier the better, as you’ll need to stick to it over the next few months until it becomes a new habit.

If you’re still not sure, try comparing how much water each pledge will save. We’ve found that the impact can help sway someone’s decision.

Yes – the more water-saving, the better! You’ll just need to choose a second pledge and we’ll track both (or however many you want to do). Note, you’ll receive separate email updates for each pledge you take.

Yes, but we’d be really grateful if you signed up. Most importantly, this allows us to add your water-saving to the collective total. We can tell you how much you’re saving and the impact of your actions, and by looking at everyone’s pledges we can track which small changes make the biggest difference. 

It also means we can offer you a free fix for any toilets in your home with a hidden leak.

Every day this summer, we’ll be monitoring how much water is used. We’ll compare this with how much water is usually used at the same time of year, adjusting for relevant factors such as weather conditions.

It’s the same approach we used to evaluate last summer’s Can for the Cam initiative, which asked Cambridgeshire residents to ditch their garden hose for a watering can. This resulted in a massive saving of 940,000 litres a day from July to September 2023. 

This is an important question. Saving water isn’t just something we ask our customers to do. Leakage is a big problem for every water company in the UK; where there are pipes, there are inevitably leaks.

Cambridge Water is committed to finding and fixing leaks as quickly as possible. We’re on track to reduce leaks by 15% by 2025, with new, even more ambitious targets to follow. We’ve also made it easy to report leaks online – so if you spot one, let us know and we’ll send out a team as soon as we can.

And don’t forget, take a water-saving pledge with Yes We Cam and we’ll come and fix any leaky loos in your home for free!

To say thank you for taking a pledge, we’re offering free fixes for leaky loos. 1 in 8 toilets has a hidden leak down the back of the pan, losing up to 400 litres a day and potentially doubling your water bill. But there’s good news. It’s easy to test your loos for leaks, and if you’ve got one, we’ll fix it for free!

First, sign up to a water-saving pledge. Then take a look at any of the emails we’ve sent you since you signed up. The booking link is included at the bottom of each one. Search your inbox for ‘Yes We Cam’ or email hello@yeswecam.co.uk if you need help.