Every person to be urged to cut their water consumption by a fifth

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Households are to be urged to cut the amount of water they use by a fifth as Labour pledges to clean up Britain’s rivers, lakes and seas “once and for all”.

Strategies include having shorter showers and fewer baths, as well as putting bricks in toilet cisterns to cut consumption.

More than nine in 10 people think they use “vastly” less water than they actually do, the Environment Secretary Steve Reed said.

The comments came as he used a speech to tell an invited group of water bosses that new laws will mean they face prison if they continue to pump filth into Britain’s lakes and rivers.

But he ruled out nationalising the sector, warning it would cost billions and make the sewage problem worse in the short term.

He pledged that the government would reform the UK’s creaking water system, much of it dating from the Victorian era.

Mr Reed outlined plans for a review of the system, which experts have warned will cost billions to bring up to date.

He would not be drawn on when the job would be complete, saying he would need to wait for the outcome of the review.

But he said: “This is our opportunity to make sure our children and their children have the chance to create those same wonderful memories - splash about in our lakes, roll on our rivers, or spot a kingfisher on a summer’s day. This is our opportunity to clean up our water once and for all.”

Mr Reed denied that reducing water consumption would see the public told how much they could use.

He told journalists: “It would see people being given the information they need to take decisions for themselves.

“When you talk to people about the amount of water they use, 94 per cent of us think we use vastly less than we actually do.”

The crackdown on water bosses will be included in the new Water (Special Measures) Bill to end sewage and other pollutants being pumped into the country’s waterways.

Included is the loss of bonuses, potential prison sentences for industry executives and a duty for the water companies themselves to pay the cost of enforcement.

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