Save water or taps ‘will run dry in 25 years’

ENGLAND’S taps will run dry in just two decades, the head of the Environment Agency warned yesterday.

Chief executive Sir James Bevan said rising demand for water and lower supplies means we face the ‘jaws of death’.

He urged Britons to reduce the amount of water they use – to 100 litres per person a day by 2050 – amid calls for more desalination plants and reservoirs.

Sir James said wasting water must become ‘as socially unacceptable as blowing smoke in the face of a baby...’

At the Waterwise conference in southeast London, he said: ‘Demand for water will rise as the population grows, whilst water supply is likely to reduce as the effects of climate change kick in.

‘Around 25 years from now, where those two lines cross is known by some as the jaws of death – the point at which we will not have enough water to supply our needs..’ But Sue Hayman MP, Labour’s shadow environment secretary, said: ‘Water companies are paying themselves millions in bonuses while failing to tackle leakage problems and ripping off consumers, and the Conservatives are failing to hold them to account.’