Research by Thames Water has revealed that almost two thirds of households in the area it serves are trying to cut back on their current level of water usage.
The company, recently fined a record amount for discharging pollution into waterways and breaching rules about shareholder payments, has issued a list of water-saving tips.
The announcement of its findings follows the driest spring since 1956, and comes as the cost of living crisis continuing to bite.
Nearly half of those who have cut water use said their main motivation was to save money, while a third said helping the environment was their core reason.
According to the Environment Agency, the UK may struggle to meet demand for water in 25 years and more than three quarters of the 2,000 households surveyed by Thames Water said that they were aware of it being possible for the UK to face a water shortage in that timeframe.
The company, which recently hiked its annual average bills by more than £100, says the free water-saving calculator on its website can help households work out how much water and energy they are using and receive tailored advice on how to save more.
Andrew Tucker, Water Demand Reduction Manager at Thames Water, said: “The South East of England gets less annual average rainfall than Sydney, Rome and Lisbon and is feeling the impact of climate change and extreme weather events.
"The UK faces a shortage of water in 25 years and whilst people are aware, behavioural change isn’t coming through yet as our latest data shows. Being water efficient is very easy, it’s the simple things that make a difference.”
The wate-saving tips include:
- Take shorter showers - Thames Water’s new research showed the average person spends about eight minutes in the shower, when asked by the survey. Shaving two minutes off your shower time can save £73 on water and energy bills a year and around 20 litres of water per person every day. 20 litres is enough to fill two buckets.
- Turn off the taps - Over a third (42%) of people are still saying they keep the tap running whilst they brush their teeth. A running basin tap can use six litres of water a minute and by turning off the tap even 10 seconds sooner, you can save over half a litre.
- Fix leaky toilets - From a trickle, ripple or full flow, leaky loos on average waste 200-400 litres a day. That’s around a family’s total daily water use. It can add hundreds to your yearly bill if not fixed.
- Reduce your washes - Doing two fewer weekly washes can save you £46 on your water and energy bills.
- Collect rainwater with a water butt - The survey found only 27% of households in England in the Thames Water network area use a water butt, but it’s a great way to save water.
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