Four in five adults cut water use, ONS survey finds

Eighty-four per cent of adults across Great Britain reported cutting back on water use in the past month, according to the Office for National Statistics Opinions and Lifestyle Survey published in its July 2026 Public Opinions and Social Trends bulletin. The most widely reported action was not leaving the tap running, cited by 64 per cent of adults, followed by waiting until the washing machine or dishwasher is full before switching it on, reported by 55 per cent.

Shorter showers came third at 40 per cent of adults, and 36 per cent said they had reduced tap water use in the garden, including hosepipes. The figures show that the actions people are most likely to take are low-effort, everyday habits rather than major changes to how a household runs.

Women reported water-saving actions at higher rates than men across the board. Seventy-two per cent of women said they avoided leaving taps running, compared with 56 per cent of men. The gap was wider still on appliance use: 64 per cent of women reported waiting for a full load before running the washing machine or dishwasher, against 45 per cent of men.

Average household water consumption in England sits at around 137 litres per person per day, according to the National Framework for Water Resources. The ONS notes that water-saving actions are being reported alongside other cost-of-living measures such as cutting gas and electricity use, suggesting that bill pressure — not just environmental concern — is driving behaviour.

Research commissioned by the Consumer Council for Water has found that elderly and financially vulnerable households are among those most likely to report making efforts to reduce water use, often focusing on the same easy-to-achieve measures the ONS survey identifies. But critics of self-reported surveys argue that what people say they do and what they actually do can diverge, and that measuring real reductions in household demand requires more than survey responses.