BY ANTONY CURRIE

Britain’s image as a country obsessed with when it will next rain belies the growing threat of water scarcity. A mix of climate change and population growth could cause chronic shortages by 2050 at the latest, Environment Agency Chief Executive James Bevan said on Tuesday, dubbing the prospect the “jaws of death.”

His speech was timely: Friday is the U.N. World Water Day and this year’s theme is “Leaving no one behind.” That’s aimed at improving access to safe drinking water for the 4 billion people, mostly in developing countries, who lack it on a regular basis. But the UK is an apt example of the challenges rich states face.

Whitehall’s preferred solution, echoed by some water utilities and other groups, falls short. The plan laid out by Bevan targets cuts to individual consumption along with investment in desalination plants, new reservoirs and pipelines to bring water from wet Wales and Scotland to the dryer southeast of England. That, plus fixing leaking pipes, could cost 21 billion pounds, the National Infrastructure Commission estimated last year.

It’s part of the answer. English households siphon off perhaps a fifth of all water taken from rivers and groundwater, based on Breakingviews calculations using Environment Agency data. That proportion is higher in the Thames area, which includes London. So encouraging people to turn off the tap when brushing their teeth and install meters and efficient showerheads makes sense.

New ways to store, move and treat water might be necessary, too, if nationwide availability dips 15 percent in the next 25 years or so, as the Environment Agency expects.

But Bevan’s recommendations don’t really touch the biggest water users. The power industry last year accounted for pretty much half of all water abstracted in England – some for hydropower, but also for cooling thermal power stations. And industry in the UK, from food to white-collar business, soaks up around a quarter.

CDP, a nonprofit climate lobby group, has identified 271 public companies in the UK, with a combined market value north of 1.5 trillion pounds, which could play a meaningful role in reducing water consumption. Folding them into the equation could save time and water – and prevent pouring billions of pounds down the drain.

First published March 22, 2019

IMAGE: REUTERS/Luke MacGregor