Sir - Despite a wealth of recent rainfall our water-supply crisis continues, and the problem can only worsen with the construction of hundreds of thousands of new homes over the next 20 years across the whole of the South East, from north Oxfordshire to east Kent.

On November 30, the public inquiry into the South East Plan heard from water companies and environmentalists about options for solving the water supply problems. CPRE told the inquiry that the muddle of commercially-motivated strategies from water companies will not solve the South East's water problems. The region's water companies argued that the construction of new reservoirs - such as Broad Oak, near Canterbury, or the Upper Thames Reservoir near Abingdon, are the key to ensuring reliable supply. CPRE has grave doubts about the hydrological and environmental viability of the planned reservoirs, which will have a severe impact on the countryside and will not adequately redress the growing imbalance in the South East between supply and demand.

The shortfall in water supply can only be erased by a combination of urgent measures. There must be a cast-iron commitment to making planning permission for new housing conditional on the incorporation of water-efficient appliances; strategic raw-water transfers must be made from other, wetter parts of the country; and treated waste water, including effluent, needs to be reabsorbed into public supply. If universal metering is combined with the installation of dual-flush toilets, low-head showers, low-flow taps and rainwater capture, consumption can be reduced by 20 per cent for peak-demand periods. The technology for this exists - there is no reasonable excuse for delaying it further.

Jim Little, Campaign to Protect Rural England Kent

Andy Boddington, CPRE Oxfordshire