Brits use 4,645 litres of water daily

The average Briton uses 4,645 litres of water every day, when hidden factors such as washing and the production of their food is taken into account, a new report has revealed.

Of this, only 38 per cent is produced from Britain's own resources, which places the country at sixth in the world league of water importers, behind Brazil, Mexico, Japan, China and Italy.

The study, by the environment group WWF, is the first attempt to work out what the UK's 'water footprint' is. It also shows that Western nations are increasingly importing water from poor countries that cannot afford to spare the precious resource.

The report highlights how different diets require varying amounts of agricultural 'virtual water' to sustain them, with a meat and dairy-based one requiring 5,000l a day. A vegetarian diet uses just 40 per cent of this.

Water is increasingly being referred to as the 'new oil', as experts predict that its increasing scarcity will lead to hikes in its price as a commodity that will have a global impact.

"What's particularly worrying is that huge amounts of the food and cotton we consume are grown in drier areas of the world where water resources are either already stressed or very likely to become so in the near future," said Stuart Orr, WWF's water footprint expert.