Highland strongmen Luke and Tom Stoltman have found a rather fitting way to demonstrate just how much water Scotland gets through each day by lifting the equivalent of one person’s average daily consumption.
The brothers from Invergordon took to Buchanan Street in Glasgow on Tuesday 6 October and lifted 180kg, representing the 180 litres of water Scottish Water says the average person in Scotland uses every day.
That is roughly equivalent to two full baths of water, and when turned into something that even two of the world’s strongest men could physically pick up, it provided a striking illustration of how quickly everyday water use adds up.
The demonstration formed part of Scottish Water’s Water Is Always Worth Saving campaign and coincided with the International Water Association World Water Congress and Exhibition fringe programme in Glasgow.
Figures highlighted during the event put Scotland’s average daily consumption of 180 litres per person considerably above England at 140 litres, Ireland at 133 litres, the Netherlands at 129 litres, Germany at 127 litres and Denmark at 100 litres.
Luke Stoltman said:
“The equivalent of 180 litres of water is 180kg and that takes some lifting.
“We want to reduce what we use to nearer the levels of other countries and we would encourage everyone, young and old, across the country, to think carefully about reducing their daily water use a little to bring us in line with other European countries.
“We are even a long way behind our neighbours England and Ireland, so come on Scotland let’s do better!”
Tom Stoltman said:
“We learnt a few things ourselves today.
“Little things that we can all do like turning off the tap when brushing your teeth, taking a few minutes off your shower and only flushing the loo when you need to, all these things will help the country save water.”
Scottish Water says the message applies throughout the year rather than only during spells of hot or dry weather, with reducing demand also helping to cut the energy and resources required to treat and deliver drinking water.
Dan Gilmore, Scottish Water’s Campaigns and Marketing Manager, said:
“Water is easy to take for granted but producing high-quality drinking water every day requires significant infrastructure, expertise and energy, meaning water has both an environmental and financial cost.
“Small changes, adopted by lots of people, can make a big difference to water demand.”
For two brothers accustomed to lifting extraordinary weights, 180kg might be manageable, but seeing Scotland’s daily water habit reduced to one very heavy lift makes the scale of what disappears through our taps rather harder to ignore.
