The race to stop England running out of water
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- Daniel Sizer, a fourth-generation Suffolk farmer, lost half his pea and wheat crop after the Environment Agency temporarily banned him and thousands of other farmers from irrigating from rivers in July due to low water levels.
- England is projected to face a shortfall of 5 billion litres of public water supply per day by 2055 — enough to fill Wembley Stadium four and a half times — driven by heatwaves, reduced rainfall and rising demand.
- Danish households consume 97 litres of water per person per day versus 136.5 in England, and Waterwise says matching Denmark's pattern would wipe out over half the projected 2055 shortfall.
- Water bills in Denmark average £9.45 per cubic metre versus £4.21 at Thames Water, with meters mandatory in Denmark — Water Resources East argues English water is "too cheap" to drive conservation.
- Five of England's nine water companies are phasing out discounted rates for high-volume business users after Ofwat warned the practice "might be sending the wrong signal on water efficiency"; businesses consume nearly a third of supply.
- Lightsonic has used fibre optic cables with Affinity Water to locate over 100 leaks in three months, saving 2 million litres daily; the company estimates nationwide deployment could cut leakage by up to a billion litres a day.
- The government has designated a planned mega-reservoir near Abingdon, Oxfordshire — serving an estimated 15 million people — as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, part of 10 reservoirs planned by 2050 after England built no major new reservoirs for 30 years.
Why it matters: Households drive nearly 60% of England's water use, yet Thames Water charges £4.21 per cubic metre — less than half Denmark's £9.45 average — so the price signals that drove conservation in Denmark are largely absent. Without pricing reform, mandatory meters, or new reservoirs (none built in 30 years), the projected 5bn-litre daily shortfall by 2055 becomes structural rather than cyclical.
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