Water companies are considering a system that turns sewage into drinking water for households in a bid to tackle future water shortages.
The Environment Agency chief executive Sir James Bevan said people will need to be “less squeamish” about where the UK’s drinking water comes from as he suggested companies will need to use recycled wastewater will make it easier to solve droughts by reducing dependence on water taken from rivers and reservoirs.
He added the system is “perfectly safe and healthy”, despite it not being something that “many people fancy”.
“We need to treat water as a precious resource, not a free good. We will have to be more selective about what we use drinking water for. It makes no sense to use it to clean the car or water the lawn,” Mr Bevan wrote in The Sunday Times.
“Perhaps most important of all, each of us will need to change how we think about water. We need to remember where it comes from: when we turn on the tap, what comes out started in a river, lake or aquifer. The more we take, the more we drain those sources and put stress on nature and wildlife.”
Water companies in the UK that could trial the system include Thames Water, Affinity Water and Southern Water.
The system is used in California where water scarcity is higher and droughts can be more common.
It comes as multiple parts of the UK were hit with a hosepipe ban following drought in many areas brought on by lower than usual rainfall this summer. England had its driest eight-month period since the notoriously drought-afflicted summer of 1976 between November 2021 and June 2022, the Met Office said.
Over that period, just 421mm of rain fell across England – less than 74 per cent of the 1991-2020 average of 568mm.
The consideration of the new system also comes as water companies in the UK are set to face the toughest targets on pollution from sewage spills under a new plan announced by the government.
Ministers appear to have bowed to pressure amid growing calls to clamp down on those contributing to water pollution.
It comes after dozens of pollution warnings were issued for beaches and swimming spots in England and Wales last week following heavy rain that overwhelmed the sewage system.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it is launching what it calls the “largest infrastructure programme in water company history to crack down on sewage spills and end pollution”.
It will involve a £56bn capital investment over 25 years.
Under the proposals, water companies will have to achieve targets, so discharges only happen when there is unusually heavy rain and when there is no immediate adverse impact on the local environment.
By 2035, water companies will have to improve all storm overflows discharging into, or near, every designated bathing water site; and improve 75 per cent of overflows discharging to high priority nature sites such as sites of special scientific interest. By 2050, this will apply to all remaining storm overflows covered by targets, regardless of location.
The plan also sets out that water companies will be required to publish discharge information in near real time, as well as commit to tackling the root causes of the issue by taking steps to improve surface water drainage.
