Abstract
A WHITE PAPER on water supplies ("A National Water Policy." H.M. Stationery Office, 6d.) points out that the problem facing Great Britain is one of organization and distribution, not of total resources, which are ample for all needs. Since water is a bulky commodity, its costs of distribution are relatively high and therefore local sources must be used so far as possible. To do this efficiently will require, not only changes in law and practice, with the coordination of the many varied authorities up and down the country, but also a fuller survey of resources than is at present available, and adequate protection against pollution and waste. There must also be a satisfactory supply for industrialists and farmers, who now are normally outside the obligations of public water-undertakings. Agricultural production must no longer be hampered by insufficiency of water and haphazard dependence on casual supplies. The proposals embodied in this report are based on three principles: first, adequate control of water supply services, including changes where they can be justified by greater efficiency or reduction in costs; secondly, responsibility for water supply to rest with democratic bodies ranging from Parliament to local authorities; and thirdly, sectional interests to be subordinate to the national interest, subject to Parliamentary approval.
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Water Supply in Great Britain. Nature 153, 581–582 (1944). https://doi.org/10.1038/153581c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/153581c0