“Cambridge, for instance, lacks clean water supply. Oxford lacks sewage systems sufficient to allow house-building to go ahead.
“And a third point here is that by the mid-2030s, unless we take action to increase water supply – reservoirs as well as infrastructure – then the demand for drinking water will start to outstrip supply, in a way that already happens in some Mediterranean countries.
“We cannot allow the water system, the water sector, to continue in this way.”
Nine new reservoirs are planned in England, as well as new transfer pipelines, and water recycling plants, for which water companies are seeking to raise customer bills.
A study last year found that seven regions in south and east England could experience water scarcity by the 2030s.
Fourteen water companies covering most of central and southern England are already classified as being water-stressed, allowing them to impose meters on households.