New campaign urges public to reduce water use as UK emerges from heatwave

The biggest ever campaign to encourage the public to reduce their water use will launch this week, as the UK emerges from record temperatures attributed to the climate crisis. The £75m publicity drive, called Let’s Save Water , will advise and encourage people to treat water as a precious resource and has a target for everyone to cut their daily use by 28 litres – or two large buckets – from the current average use of about 140 litres a day. A partnership involving water companies, the water regulator Ofwat, the Environment Agency , the Met Office and Natural Resources Wales is behind the campaign, which will be paid for by water companies over four years. Water use in England and Wales is among the highest in Europe, with countries such as Germany and the Netherlands averaging 120 litres a person a day by comparison. A team of behavioural psychologists are advising the campaign, which aims to change attitudes to water use. “The critical issue is, how do we make people believe water is an important resource?” said Prof Thomas Webb, a social psychologist at the University of Sheffield. “So we need to change assumptions. …