Water companies fail to meet their own goals of reducing home leakage and home use as part of the country prepares for a declared drought was.
Of the 17 largest businesses in England and Wales regulated by Ofwat, he has set a target of reducing water consumption per person per day to 142 liters by 2021-2022. Only Southwest Water achieved through the introduction of smart meters. Prevents water leakage and advises customers on how to save water.
Missed targets, coupled with the company's failure to repair broken main pipes, are estimated to produce about 3 billion liters per day. Therefore, action is required to reduce demand and strengthen declining inventories. In the second big heat wave in weeks.
The National Drought Group will hold an emergency meeting on Friday to decide whether to declare a drought in parts of England. This necessitates further restrictions on water usage.
Millions of Britons were alreadyhosepipe bansandwhen supplies ran out, some villages relied on tankers and bottled water. I was forced to.England has had its driest start in years since 1976.
Sir John Armitt, Chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission, has advised the government that 2050 By then he estimates he could save 1.4 billion liters a day. The Independent said the delay in reducing domestic water use was a "missed opportunity." “Fixing leaks and building new supply infrastructure are important pieces of the jigsaw puzzle, but faster deployment of metering also plays a key role in mitigating drought risk.”
Sir John said it was not clear whether current policies could bring consumption down to 110 liters per person per day by 2050, as promised by the government.
"Sadly, the water company's latest figures seem to confirm this," he added.
Dried banks of a tributary to the Dowry Reservoir during hot weather in July near Oldham
(Reuters)
Companies that failed to meet their targets cited thecoronavirus pandemicas the primary reason. This is due to more people working from home and a warmer, drier climate. Last 18 months.
However, Friends of the Earth campaigner Paul de Zylva said increased use during the pandemic "underscores the critical importance of increasing water efficiency." rice field.
"The hosepipe ban is too late. Governments and the water sector have been sleepwalking towards water shortages for too long," he said.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey told The Independent:
"It's time for someone to take a stand against these corporations, from a sewage tax to clean up the rivers they pollute and a ban on CEO bonuses until the pipes are repaired. We should start," he said.
The fact that all but one of the major water companies failed to meet their targets, said Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green Party, was ``failure of these companies to provide an adequate service. , prioritizing profits over the common good.”
"The water company'sprivatizationexperiment failed," she said. “To end leaks, stop sewage from flowing into rivers, reduce consumption and lower household bills, we need to return water to public ownership for the public good, not shareholders.”
Abandoned shopping carts in the dry meadows of Jubilee River on Thursday
(Shutterstock)
Conservative Party leader candidate Rishi Sunak on Thursday launched a plan to "make the UK more resilient to drought" by holding water companies accountable for "unacceptable leaks", and said there would be "nothing" about enforcement. No problem," he warned.
His rival Liz Truss has not yet made similar plans, but a spokesperson for her campaign confirmed to The Telegraph last week that Water companies will fix leaks and reduce waste, he said.
A spokeswoman for industry group Water UK said the goal to reduce per capita consumption was set by Ofwat in 2019, but the coronavirus pandemic has forced people to work from home. The way people use water has changed, he said, as more people spend time in the water and on vacation. England.
"Water companies are in regular contact with customers to help them reduce the amount of water they use," the spokesperson added. “Furthermore, we are asking the government to take some important actions, such as introducing water-saving labels for white goods and tightening building regulations to ensure that water conservation in new homes is as important as energy efficiency.
The climate crisis and population growth mean that the gap between water supply and demand is expected to widen,with estimates that It is estimated that we may need about 4 billion liters of additional water per day by 2050.
Scientists say theclimate crisisIt warned that summers will mean hotter and drier summers, and it expects more volatile precipitation that could make water management difficult.Charity Christian Aidwarned in a report earlier this year that London could run out of water within 25 years as the risk of drought increases due to the climate crisis.