I know where all the water is going.

The recent announcement that the water board in Kent was enforcing the metering of water was a worry to me. There's five of us in our house so both the washing machine and dishwasher are on every day. During the summer the paddling pool is filled and emptied frequently. The children do their bit to save water by not washing, not flushing the toilet when they've used it, stockpiling dirty clothes in their room etc. But nevertheless I think a meter would hit us hard and I hope this compulsory metering doesn't spread.

I think one of the reasons for the looming shortage has not yet been commented on in public - at least not loud enough that I have noticed. The reason is the introduction of recycling of household waste.

Our council provides us with three wheelie bins: Blue for recyclable materials, Brown for compostables and black for everything else. This is great - recycling is good and I wholeheartedly support it. The trouble is the blue bin which is for plastic, metal, paper, etc. So that's most packaging materials, tin cans, yoghurt pots etc. But the problem is: they want the stuff clean! So gallons of water is being wasted by households across the country to wash their rubbish. This must account for a huge increase in water usage as recycling has been introduced.

I'm not sure what the solution is because I'm not sure why the stuff needs to be so clean in the first place. Surely a tin can will melt down as well with traces of baked bean inside as it does clean. If the stuff has to be cleaned then maybe it would waste less water to do it in bulk at the recycling plant. Perhaps this would make a good subject for research if we can find some university bods not currently looking at such important topics as "Will Humans Swim Faster or Slower in Syrup?"