Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink

Tap Water

It may not seem likely when the rain falls, but there are fears that water shortages in the North West could be just around the corner unless urgent action is taken to stop the squandering of this precious resource.

According to campaign group Waterwise the UK already has less water available per person than almost any other EU country, and we are sucking more water from the ground, lakes, rivers and reservoirs than ever before.

Water usage has been increasing on average by about 1 per cent each year since the 1930s. There are more people, and many more smaller households, using power showers and taking more baths than ever before.

United Utilities supplies the North West’s 6.8 million residents with 2,000 million litres of water each day. The population is set to rise to 7.3 million by 2035 with an extra 640,000 extra households, an increase of almost a quarter.

In Britain an average of 150 litres of water per day is used per person, compared to 130 litres in Germany and 107 litres in Belgium.

The European Parliament has been looking at the issue and claims that 40% of the water used in the EU could be saved and called for concrete measures and financial incentives to promote a more efficient and sustainable use of water.

Rochdale Euro-MP Chris Davies sits on the environment committee in the European Parliament and says that 40% of the water we use could be saved by use of simple measures.

He said: “Compared to London and the South East we are well off for water in the North West and should not experience the very severe problems expected there in years to come.

“But water tables are plummeting across the world as a result of increased consumption. Barcelona and Cyprus are now having to bring water in by ship to keep the taps flowing.

“The use of water meters can reduce water use by 10% and more. Washing machines need to be made even more efficient, and perhaps it will become necessary to fit spring taps around the house so we are all less tempted to leave water running to waste.”

“A year or so of heavy rain has made us complacent, but we shouldn’t have to wait for a drought to promote some sensible forward thinking.”

Increased consumption is not simply the product of water use in homes. Waterwise points out that vast amounts of water are required to produce articles we take for granted.