Diane Has A Baby

Introducing Marcella

Our household, Thames Water tells me, uses 631 m^3 (cubic meters) of water a year.  A typical Brit household of 5 uses 199 m^3 and an efficient household 161 m^3. I am pretty sure Madeleine uses this amount for showers alone.

I visit the Thames Water website and, as expected, they treat me like an idiot. Top water-saving suggestions: only flush the toilet if you need to. Fix leaking taps. Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth (the number one suggestion).  All in, the website might save our household 1 m^3 but what do I know?

And .. . I learn that in the UK every person uses 150 litres of water a day, a figure that has been growing yearly by 1% since 1930. If you take into account water needed to produce British food and products, a Brit consumes 3,400 litres a day.

The UK , in fact, has less water per person than most other European countries. South east England even more so - despite the rain on every bank holiday weekend.