HUGE water shortages of five billion litres a day are coming by 2055 without urgent action, environment officials have warned.
A stark new report says water companies must while the public is urged to help by taking and even deleting old emails.
A growing population, changes to the and pressure from new industries are among factors driving up demand, according to the Environment Agency.
The regulator warned that will face a daily shortfall of five billion litres in 30 years’ time — around a third of current daily use — without urgent steps.
It said the wider economy faces a further daily deficit of a billion litres, amid rising demand from the energy sector, food production and businesses such as water-intensive data centres.
The EA says 60 per cent of the expected shortfall needs to be addressed by reducing leaks and managing demand.
The rest would come from a major infrastructure boost, including ten new reservoirs, nine desalination plants and seven .
But it also urged the public to turn off taps and use as well as clearing email inboxes to ease pressure on server farms, which use significant amounts of water.
EA chairman Alan Lovell said: “This deficit threatens not only the water from your tap but also economic growth and food production.”;
The Government has secured £104billion for infrastructure improvement over the next five years.
Water firms vow to cut leaks by 17 per cent by 2030 and half by 2050, with ten million smart meters rolled out.   
