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The lack of sufficient water supplies were not considered properly by the government when it planned for new homes south and east of England, an all-party committee of Lords has said.
Government had "failed to consider the water management implications of their house building plans at an early enough stage," said the Science and Technology sub-committee, who warned that plans to build the homes over the next 20 years will worsen water shortages.
The peers' report said the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is among ministries that failed to consider water management issues enough. Chairman Lord Selborne later said there was "quite a muddle in what was then the ODPM and Defra, on the projections as to what the increased water demand would be, for example, in the Thames Gateway."
The committee said in their Water Management report: "Along with the Environment Agency, [the government] must ensure that the water companies' plans factor in what is bound to be a significant increase in demand."
The report also calls for a major cutback in the "unacceptably high" level of leaks alongside a more coherent and better-funded promotion of sensible water use.
The report reveals a "very high level" of unpaid water bills and concluded that those people who can afford to pay their water bills, but refuse to do so, should be partially disconnected from the water supply.
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