A record-breaking heatwave that left millions sweltering has prompted a stark warning: the UK must drastically cut its water usage or face severe shortages. A new campaign, 'Let's Save Water', is set to launch this week with an ambitious goal: halve daily water consumption from approximately 140 litres to 112 litres per person – a reduction of 28 litres.
The £75 million public awareness drive, funded by water companies over four years, is the brainchild of a coalition including water companies, Ofwat, the Environment Agency, the Met Office, and Natural Resources Wales. It's a partnership that underscores the severity of the issue: England and Wales have some of the highest water usage rates in Europe, far surpassing countries like Germany and the Netherlands which average around 120 litres per person daily.
Behavioural psychologists are key to the campaign's strategy, aiming to help people understand their actual water consumption – often underestimated by a factor of five, research suggests. The urgency is clear: Met Office projections indicate that water shortages in England and Wales could reach 5 billion litres per day by 2055 – equivalent to 2,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Climate change, population growth, and the expansion of water-intensive industries are driving this deficit. Professor Lizzie Kendon from the Met Office notes that climate change is leading to more extreme weather patterns: drier summers and intense rainfall that often runs off hardened ground rather than soaking into the soil where it's needed.
The campaign offers practical advice for small, everyday changes: shorter showers (10 litres per minute), water-saving shower heads, fixed dripping taps, and using water butts for garden irrigation. These adjustments are crucial to collectively achieving the reduction target – but acknowledging that ingrained daily habits constitute the majority of water consumption.
The 'Let's Save Water' launch comes as public trust in water companies is at a low following issues like record sewage pollution incidents, drinking water outages, and financial concerns within some companies. Despite this, the industry has committed to investing £104 billion over the next five years – including plans for building 10 new reservoirs, the first in England since the 1960s.