Force EVERY home to install a water meter, demand MPs
MILLIOnS of households should be forced to have water meters, MPs will say today.
They suggest the move would cut the amount of water we use to wash, flush the toilet, cook and maintain our gardens by an average of 20 per cent per head.
But they warn deeper cuts will be needed in the future, which some experts say could involve preventing tap water being used on gardens and pleas for shorter showers.
The Commons environment committee warns: ‘Droughts of the type experienced in 2018 will become more frequent and drought resilience will require increasing the supply of water alongside reducing demand.’
Currently, only companies serving areas classified as being in ‘serious water stress’ are allowed to force householders to have a meter – Thames, Southern, Anglian, South east, Affinity, Sutton and east Surrey, and essex and Suffolk. The MPs say that this should be extended to every supplier.
neil Parish, Conservative chairman of the committee, admitted it could mean higher bills for some. Generally, large families, the disabled and those with large gardens pay more when meters are used to set bills. Pensioners and single person households tend to be better off.
But he added: ‘We need to move beyond a regional approach to water metering, because there is a national need to conserve water.’
Tony Smith, of the Consumer Council for Water, said it was critical that ‘support is put in place to financially assist those at risk of being worse off’.
Average water consumption in households without a meter is 162 litres per head per day, but this falls to 129 where charging is based on usage, according to MPs.
The MPs also want companies to cut leakage from the mains, which is running at three billion litres a day, by 50 per cent by 2040 or face fines.