England will face public water shortages of five billion litres a day by 2055 unless urgent action is taken, officials have warned.
The shortfall – equivalent to a third of the country’s daily use – is being blamed on climate change, population growth and more demand from businesses.
Without urgent action to cut leaks, curb use and build new reservoirs, there is a likelihood of environmental damage, restricted economic growth, interruptions to supplies and a lack of resilience in areas such as energy and food production, the Environment Agency said.
The Environment Agency also warned that the wider economy faces a further deficit of one billion litres a day, with growing demand from the energy sector, food production and businesses such as water-intensive data centres.
The highly populated south east region of England faces the biggest shortfall, with an estimated extra two billion litres of water a day needed between 2030 and 2055.
Sixty per cent of fixing the shortage needs to come from water companies managing demand and halving the amount of water lost to leaks, the EA warned.
The rest would come from new reservoirs and desalination plants – which turn seawater into drinking water – and moving water from wetter parts of the country to drier areas.
A drone view shows vehicles using a bridge to pass over a dry section of the Woodhead Reservoir after a prolonged period without rain saw water levels
In this aerial view low water levels at Baitings Reservoir reveal the top of an ancient pack horse bridge after the driest spring in 132 years
England will face public water shortages of five billion litres a day by 2055 unless urgent action is taken, officials have warned. Pictured: Baitings Reservoir
But with those kind of projects taking years to come online, initially some 80 per cent of water shortfalls need to be met by reducing demand and tackling leaks, the agency said.
The warning comes in the Environment Agency’s national framework for water resources, published every five years and setting out the actions needed by utilities, regulators and businesses and the public to manage under-pressure resources.
The EA warns that the population of England is set to increase by eight million by 2055, increasing demand for water for everything from washing and appliances to leisure activities on golf courses and sports pitches.
Climate change is likely to reduce the amount of available water, with hotter, drier summers limiting resources and increasing demand from households, while at the same time the amount taken from rivers and groundwater will need to be reduced to protect wildlife and the environment.
The warning comes in the wake of England’s hottest spring on record, and the country’s driest for more than 100 years, with the North West and Yorkshire in drought, some reservoirs at extremely low levels, farmers struggling to grow crops and households facing the prospect of hosepipe bans.
The Environment Agency warned it was ‘vital’ water companies delivered on their commitments to reduce leakage by 17 per cent in the next five years and by 50 per cent by 2050.
The EA wants to see a rollout of smart meters, including upgrading existing standard meters, which the agency said would help households reduce their water use, enable companies to target efforts to curb demand and spot leaks – while also taking steps to protect vulnerable customers.
And the agency said it would continue to work with the Government on a mandatory efficiency labelling scheme for appliances such as dishwashers, toilets and showers.
The shortfall – equivalent to a third of the country’s daily use – is being blamed on climate change , population growth and more demand from businesses. Pictured: Woodhead Reservoir
The Government says it has secured £104 billion in private sector spending in water company infrastructure over the next five years. Pictured: Haweswater reservoir
The EA also said there were small steps the public can take, such as shortening showers, turning off taps when brushing teeth, using full loads for dishwashers and washing machines, collecting water for garden use and deleting old emails to reduce pressure on data centre servers.
Emerging industries such as data centres and hydrogen production, which use large amounts of water for cooling systems, need to look at more options for using recycled water rather than public water supplies to meet their needs, the EA said.
The report estimates that the water needs for carbon capture and storage technology, used to store greenhouse gas emissions from power stations or industry deep underground, and hydrogen production alone will amount to 767 million litres a day by 2050.
Navigation of waterways, leisure facilities and the chemicals industry all put demands on water resources, while there is the potential for ‘new large demand’ as new data centres are built, the report said.
Environment Agency chairman Alan Lovell said: ‘The nation’s water resources are under huge and steadily increasing pressure.
‘This deficit threatens not only the water from your tap but also economic growth and food production.
‘Taking water unsustainably from the environment will have a disastrous impact on our rivers and wildlife.
‘We need to tackle these challenges head on and strengthen work on co-ordinated action to preserve this precious resource and our current way of life.’
The Government says it has secured £104 billion in private sector spending in water company infrastructure over the next five years, including £8 billion committed to boost water supply and manage demand, and is stepping in to speed up the construction of a series of major reservoirs.
But consumers have reacted angrily to rising bills in the face of polluted rivers, lakes and seas, shareholder payouts and executive bonuses.
