Demand for water is rising fast but England’s system for tracking water use is outdated, patchy and opaque, leaving regulators in the dark, and can even reward businesses for using more, experts have warned.
Water licensed for farming has more than doubled in five years, from nearly 3 billion cubic metres in 2015–2019 to almost 6 billion between 2020 and 2024. The energy sector’s use has also soared, with the sector’s annual demand rising from 4.1 billion cubic metres in 2013 to 7.3 billion in 2023, a joint investigation by the Guardian and Watershed Investigations revealed.
