Water use in Colchester is set to spiral by more than four million litres each day because of new housing in the town.
Anglian Water will be keeping a careful eye on the the town's population explosion during the next few years.
Ideas for meeting demand range from recycling sewage into drinking water to encouraging people to conserve water to drilling new bore holes in the ground.
Each person in Colchester uses between 150 and 200 litres every day. With 11,000 new homes planned for the area, it means at least an extra four million litres will be needed every day - or an extra 1.5 billion litres a year.
A spokeswoman for Anglian Water said there was virtually no chance of running out of water but added new and innovative ways would need to be found to meet new demand.
She said: "We've got our eye on meeting demand. It is about forecasting growth and meeting that need but we also want to encourage people to moderate use.
"We make sure we can meet demand through recycling water or new bore holes but we also want people to do their bit. We have to make the most of what we've got because we do lose an awful lot of water."
Colchester is served by Alton reservoir, which is between Colchester and Ipswich.
Published Tuesday, January 7, 2003
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