England will face water shortages within 25 years unless action is taken now, according to the chief executive of the Environment Agency.

Sir James Bevan said the nation is getting closer to the point where rising populations and climate change will see demand for water surpassing supplies – described by some experts as “the jaws of death”.

“Around 25 years from now, where those [supply and demand] lines cross is known by some as the ‘jaws of death’ – the point at which we will not have enough water to supply our needs, unless we take action to change things,” Mr Bevan told The Guardian newspaper.

“We need water wastage to be as socially unacceptable as blowing smoke in the face of a baby or throwing your plastic bags into the sea.”

The UK population is set to rise to 75 million by 2050, and within that time more than half our summers are expected to be hotter than the 2003 heatwave due to climate change.

It is this issue that concerns water companies the most, Mr Bevan said, adding that cutting wastage and leaks while improving infrastructure is key to avoiding shortages.

“We have not built a new reservoir in the UK for decades, largely because clearing all the planning and legal hurdles necessary is so difficult and local opposition is fierce,” he added.

Mr Bevan said there must be more investment in desalination plants to turn seawater into drinking water and providing canals and pipelines to transfer water to more drought-prone areas such as the South East.

He told the newspaper: “While there will be political challenges, there should be less difficulty over the economics.

“That’s because the investment needed to increase our resilience is modest compared with the cost of not doing it.

“While a severe drought would cost each household more than £100 [a year], the cost per household of the investment that would greatly reduce the risk is only £4.”

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