Power shower ban is a recipe for smelly disaster

Afrightful stench is haunting Westminster. As part of a new “plan for water”, Government ministers are rumoured to be pushing for limits on power showers, with officials considering banning the sale of “high-flow” bathroom products.

It’s clear that we have a water problem, from smelly seasides to polluted ponds, and a Government focus on cleaning up and securing resources is welcome. But instead of thinking about how we might create an abundance of clean water, our political class is, as usual, choosing to ration the things we enjoy. And, as usual, it involves targets – this time to slash our daily water use from 144 litres to 122 litres.

But we don’t have a water shortage, we have a reservoir shortage. We live in a country plagued by every type of rain, from drizzle to floods, and we have just experienced the wettest March in 40 years. Yet there have been no new potable water reservoirs in the UK since 1992. The Government this week claimed it is already unlocking £469million for new large-scale water infrastructure, but the only finalised plan for a new site is Havant Thicket Reservoir in Hampshire, which won’t be ready until 2029.

The launch of a project to secure clean water was once an exciting prospect. Following the Great Stink of the 1850s, the Metropolitan Board of Works’ chief engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette created a vast sewage system that Londoners continue to rely on today. His pumping stations and treatment plants are sites of incredible aesthetic beauty, while also serving a powerful instrumental purpose. That our ambitions have plunged so far since the Victorian era should be a source of national embarrassment.

As with many government initiatives designed to take us back to the Dark Ages, its plan for water underscores how “pollution, bigger towns and cities… are putting a strain on our water supplies and water environment. Climate change is making these pressures worse.” We risk blaming industrialisation for our water woes, when the real culprit is government incompetence.

In pursuit of eco-credentials from Swedish teenagers and the Davos elite, politicians seem hellbent on making our lives miserable. Power showers aren’t ubiquitous, but enforcing this ban will condemn us all to a future of tepid trickles. Many of us will substitute duration for strength, which may hamper the ban’s impact on water reduction. By way of comparison, between 1983 and 2018, as manufacturers grappled with evertightening energy regulations, the default cycle time of dishwashers in the US more than doubled. Following a public revolt, President Trump exempted quick dishwashers from efficiency rules. But, once again, the climate change ideologues eventually won out, and Biden has since removed the loophole.

Too many essentials for a good life – warm homes, travel, clean dishes – are being taken away from us in the name of the environment. The idea that our living conditions should be constantly improving, held for generations in the West, is now being crushed. My father, who was a builder in London for more than 30 years, would get home covered in dirt and grime. He would look forward to washing the day off. These small pleasures can have an immeasurable impact on our sense of wellbeing.

Last year, Matt Hancock received a wrist-slapping for taking a dip in the Serpentine after breaching membersonly rules. He’s not alone in enjoying a wild swim, but the experience is being increasingly blighted by sewage discharge. We need clean, abundant water. We can achieve it through government investment in water infrastructure. Until then, hands off my shower.

Net zero ideologues are hellbent on stripping us of the pleasures that make life so enjoyable, from travel to warm homes and clean dishes

We don’t have a water shortage, we have a potable reservoir shortage. Not one has opened in the UK since 1992