"I don’t pay my water bill to ration water" is a common response to the announcement that hosepipe bans are coming into force during a period of sustained drought, writes Dixie Darch.
Given the negative coverage around the management and performance of some water companies, combined with rising water bills (along with energy, food, fuel and everything else), it’s an understandable reaction.
But it’s not helpful.
The water sector has been due for reform for many years.
The government response to the independent Cunliffe Review means that water companies can no longer mark their own homework, and governance and regulation of the water sector is undergoing a much-needed overhaul.
According to the Environment Agency, £104bn in private sector spending in water company infrastructure over the next five years has been secured, including £8bn committed to boost water supply and manage demand.
So change is on its way.
But our limited water resource isn’t just about water company management.
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A growing population, climate change, the need to protect our increasingly fragile environment and the emergence of some mega-thirsty new technologies (data centres, gigafactories) are putting pressure on a resource which has long been regarded by many other countries as finite, precious and never to be taken for granted.
According to EA predictions, England faces a five billion-litre-a-day shortfall for public water supplies by 2055 – and a further one billion-litre-a-day deficit for the wider economy.
To have clean drinking water at the turn of a household tap is an extraordinary privilege.
We pay for that privilege, and we will have to continue to do so.
Reducing our water consumption to a sensible level can save us money, help keep our rivers clean, support food production and reduce flooding.
And not just in periods of drought.
Many of our older homes use combined sewers, which means that heavy rain from our gutters overwhelms the sewage system.
Garden water butts can reduce this risk as well as providing fresh rainwater to keep our plants alive in dry spells.
Showering and standing in a garden trug (singing helps) means grey water can be used to flush the loo or water non-edible plants in a drought.
A bit of a faff?
Yes.
A hardship?
Not really.
We don’t need to ration water…we just need to acknowledge its value.
None of us can live without it.
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