As people move home and old estates are renovated, metering will increase. The water regulator, the industry, the Labour government and the Environment Agency justify metering on the grounds that demand for water has escalated and resources are scarce. But this assertion needs further investigation. The domestic consumption component of the Public Water Supply has risen from 87 litres a day in 1961 to 147 in 1995. Consumption rose as homes were fitted with indoor toilets, baths and washing machines.
Toilet flushing is the largest single component of household demand.
Yet Britain still has the lowest per capita consumption in the industrial world, including those countries where water is metered. Furthermore, essential domestic demand is not set to rise significantly, as all the public agencies admit. But the PWS accounts for only half of annual usage. Industry, power stations, agriculture, irrigation and fish farming use the remainder at a lower price that covers only administrative costs. In an earlier period, as the needs of industry grew, the private water abstractors took the first slice of the cake.