Letter: Saving water: meters, permits, tankers and shared baths

From Mr T. K. Holman

Sir: "Life is better bathing with a friend," you correctly inform us in today's editorial (2 September). However, you then incorrectly trace the origins of tub-sharing back to the summer drought of 1976.

In fact it was in January 1974 that citizens were first urged to wash together, not with the idea of saving water but as a means of reducing gas consumption during the fuel crisis and three-day week. Strangely, the Conservative government which presided over the launch of the bath- sharing idea was defeated at the polls only four weeks later, which shows how far ahead of its time the concept was. In 1995, however, its hour has surely come, both as a means of preserving water supplies and (as you argue) to promote the ideals of citizenship over consumption.

I predict a thumping victory in the next election for whichever party adopts the cause that you have so eloquently espoused.

Yours faithfully,

T. K. Holman

Brighton