We need to change our ways radically; it is foolish to treat all water and then flush half of it down the sewers. We should all have rooftop rainwater storage for taking showers and flushing toilets and only use treated water for drinking and cooking. This system works well in many countries and helps save money and use water more sensibly. Stephen Hunt, Nottingham
Has Ken Livingstone considered water harvesting? It is being promoted here in Mumbai in order to gather the monsoon rains. I would also recommend a bucket bath, Indian-style. Half a bucket of water and a jug are more than adequate to perform daily ablutions. Mary Turner, Mumbai, India
The water shortage is a part of a larger problem. We are living in the second most densly populated country in Western Europe. We don’t have enough water, enough land for houses, or space to build motorways or even new railways. We need to reduce our population! John Knight, Sheffield
Take a page out of the arid West’s book and don’t water between 10am and 6pm and impose steep fines on anyone who waters outside of these times. Automated sprinkler systems should be checked so they are not watering the roads. Sharon Brenner, Carbondale, Colorado
Livingston will want rationing next. This is just politically correct nonsense. I don’t see any campaigns to “conserve food”. Why is water any different? The cost of water is a trivial proportion of household expenditure and if demand exceeds supply, the simple answer is put the price up. Julius Blumfeld, London
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Water shortages are caused mostly by over development. Only if consummers ignore pleas for reduced consumption can the government and water companies be forced to make proper provision for the future. Irvine Shaw, Hook, Hampshire
Will we have to get used to droughts once the Government finally finishes building vast estates on every available piece of land? As their intention seems to be to inflict their house building programme on the densest parts of the UK, ie, the South East, with no kind of infrastructure in place I guess we’ll have to. Carole Tyrrell, London
Certainly, men living alone or with other men should not flush every time these go for a pee. Men using public toilets should use only urinals and stop using cubicles for a pee (overcoming whatever embarrassment it is they feel when at a public urinal). I save the water used when washing fruit and vegetables and, from that container, help to flush the loo, rinse out the sink or water the garden. Drops in the ocean, perhaps, but after a while one feels rather good about less waste. Lester May, Camden Town, London
Like Las Vegas, give out grants to people to rip out lawns and put in drought resistent vegetation that does not need watering as much. Phil Massam, Grass Valley, California
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When water was supplied by a publicly owned utility, I remember the solid and co-operative unity behind the country to conserve when stocks were down and the sun shone too much. People adhered (mostly) to hose pipe bans and were happy to throw a brick into the cistern. Once the service was flogged off, it appears most people’s attitudes have changed. I must confess to worrying little about stock levels, considering the nine months the water board took to mend a mains leaking into my property last year. Forget the awful problems it caused my family, as I wouldnt expect them to care, but that water lost would have watered all the gardens in my street for years. Peter Shaw, London
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