The UK Environment Agency says England must stop wasting water and use less of it to avoid serious water shortfalls by the year 2050.

"We need to change our attitudes to water use," said Emma Howard Boyd, the Environment Agency chair.  "It is the most fundamental thing needed to ensure a healthy environment, but we are taking too much of it and have to work together to manage this precious resource."

The Agency issued the UK's first major report on water resources in England, and it warns that waste, population growth, and climate change are threatening a water system that is already struggling.

Water UK said water companies have reduced leakage by about a third since the 1990s.  But three billion liters of water are lost to leakage every day, which would be enough to meet the needs of about 20 million people.

England is taking too much from its surface and underground water sources, which the report calls "unsustainable".  Already, a number of rivers and streams are flowing too low to be considered healthy.

The population of England is forecast to increase to 58.5 million by 2026, with most of the growth expected to occur in the southeast where where water supplies are already stressed.  At the same time, climate change will alter the way rain falls on England, with more large downpours separated by longer dry spells - the sort of conditions that could reduce agricultural output and harm wetlands.  Increased areas of stagnant water during droughts coupled to increased temperatures could see the spread of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever and West Nile virus.