Hosepipe bans and smart water meters needed, Environment agency says
With water shortages likely to affect parts of England, the Environment Agency has called for more hosepipe bans and ‘smart’ water meters. This is in a bid to ensure a “continued and sustained effort” to reduce demand.
The watchdog says that without dramatic action, such as more hosepipe bans, England could see a daily shortage of over six billion litres of water. It currently sees 14 billion litres used every day. More homes, it said, would need ‘smart’ metres that report on how much water is being used in real time, adding that future prices may have to rise when supplies are low.
Droughts have already been declared in Yorkshire and the north-west of England this year. The Met Office says that this has been the warmest and driest spring for over fifty years/
The warnings from the Environment Agency came from its National Framework for Water Resources report. Five billion litres would be needed to supply the public, with an additional one billion for agriculture and energy users.
Customers in England would need to cut their water use by 2.5 billion litres a day by 2055, from an average of around 140 litres per person per day, down to 110 litres. Future economic growth could be compromised as water becomes scarcer. Shortages in areas in Sussex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, and Norfolk have seen limited housing and business growth.
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