England must harvest rainfall and take action on water usage, Lords warn

Key points

• Rainwater harvesting, the use of grey water in homes and an urgent campaign to reduce water usage across society are vital to prevent water shortages of 5bn litres a day by 2055, the government has been told.
• Without intervention, England will face severe water shortages in the coming decades, as climate change-induced weather patterns, population growth and the expansion of industries such as water-intensive datacentres put excessive demand on supplies and endanger life, according to a House of Lords report published on Thursday.
• Peers on the Environment and Climate Change Committee said without urgent action, the country would face daily water shortfalls of 5bn litres a day – equivalent to 2,000 Olympic-sized pools of water each day.
• Last year the driest spring for 132 years led to prolonged drought across England.
• The government’s climate advisers warned in a major report that drought would become more frequent as a result of...