if Britain's water usage is 'unsustainable',then what on Earth do you call that of the States and Russia?!

Tim, Moscow, Russia

Typical HMG policy suggestion, do not increase storage and supply, restrict supply by price. Of course our beloved MPs do not have to pay for water, electricity, gas, oil or whatever - they reclaim them via their expense account.

Michael, Bridgwater, UK

So mass immigration does incur costs, contrary to what this discredited excuse of a Government would have us believe!

Richard, Kidderminster, England

What a stupid policy & false economy to force a reduction in water usage will affect sanitation & increase health risks stretching NHS resources even more. Tackle the obscene profits & poor investment in infrastructure before hammering the consumer.

peter, worthing,

"...increasingly indefensible...": well, it seems to have appeased the masses until now, Nanny Benn, but not any longer... do you now have another tune to dance to?

Abdul Majeed, Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK

Water is not free. The only water that is free is whatever falls directly on to your property. So, whether usage is up this year, or not, the only fair means of using and paying for water is for every single domestic, business, and institutional property to be metered. Metering must be compulsory.

David, Cheshire,

That means that instead of a population of 50m in England, we can sustain 62.5m for the same water consumption!

And don't forget that each of us is said to indirectly consume thousands of litres each - because of all the goods/food we consume

dave, kent, uk

I doubt usage is actually up, there are several underground leaks that go undetected for months. We have just had one outsdie our house that was leaking underground for 6 months, wasting thousands of gallons an hour.

Ian Wilson, Newbury, UK

What!!! After this summer..are they mad!

sedgwick, London, UK

It's the increasing number of people that is increasingly unsustainable and "increasingly indefensible".
People are breeding as if for a planet 10 times the size.

Graham Rounce, London, UK