Revealed: how companies ‘secretly’ use billions of litres of public water in drought-hit England

Exclusive: As millions of people face hosepipe bans, many companies are not required to report, let alone cut, use of public supply Less than 1% of businesses in England use more water than the daily needs of 10 million people, as millions of households face hosepipe bans and three-quarters of the country is in drought. Businesses across England use 2.6bn litres a day from the public water supply, which includes potable and non-potable water provided by water companies. In total, businesses acco