Letter: Why England is short of water

Sir: F Mary Poole (letter, 26 February) marvels that parched Arizona has abundant water supplies, in contrast to England, "where rainfall is plentiful". Consider a few facts.

England has no high mountains and glaciers, and therefore no large rivers. Compared with Arizona's mighty Colorado, the Thames above Teddington is a ditch. Eastern England may feel damp, but is rather dry: Cambridge has less annual rainfall than any place in Italy. South-east England has the highest population per hectare of catchment area in the world (not counting Gibraltar, Hong Kong, etc). Much of Arizona has fewer than five persons per square mile.

Most consumers don't pay for water by how much they use, so they have no incentive to economise. No wonder we use "spending money like water" to describe profligacy.

A few years ago I pioneered a department at Cranfield University to teach these and allied facts. It thrives, but clearly the message still needs spreading.

Professor GEORGE SOLT

Emberton, Buckinghamshire