Lancashire residents urged to take shorter showers to avoid future water shortages

Following a summer of heatwaves, experts have warned that we need to act now to avoid water shortages in coming years.

Water supplier United Utilities was just days away from announcing a hosepipe ban only a few weeks ago.

Soap making supplier experts Soap Supplier ran a survey of 2,000 Brits to find out how much water we are really wasting.

Experts believe that we should be limiting our time in the shower to just four minutes.

So, how many of us are already doing this?

Well, not that many, it turns out. Overall, Soap Supplier found that, North West residents spend an average of 10 whole minutes under the shower.

This is the national average and twice what’s recommended.

Nicky Story of Soap Supplier said: “It’s a bit of a worry that Brits are using up so much water, especially when it comes to showering.

“The rule of thumb is to put on a pop song and make sure you’re in, washed and out in the length of time it takes to play.

“If our summers get hotter, we’ll all need to do our bit, so be warned!’”

The North West figures pale into insignificance, however, next to the UK’s biggest water-wasting culprits: people in Scotland.

They spend an average of 11.2 minutes under the shower .

Not far behind are those mucky pups in Northern Ireland, who take an average of 10.7 minutes!

And the ones who spend the least time in the shower every day are those in the South East, who are in and out and clean in 9.1 minutes.