Universal water metering - yet another hare-brained populist fad from Lewes MP Norman Baker.

As with so many Lib-Dem policies, it is superficially attractive but poorly thought through.

At the heart of the problem of water conservation is the financial structure of the industry and metering won't touch that.

Water supply is a natural monopoly but at the moment is in private hands who serve their shareholders and directors, not the public.

If water was brought back into public ownership domestic bills could be cut by up to a third, appealing to people's desire to preserve a scarce resource.

A blitz could then be launched on water wasters who are so in love with their hoses and sprinklers.

Industry should also be targeted. Even though its water is already metered, it wastes billions of gallons daily.

A cautionary tale for Mr Baker. A private water company in the San Francisco area of the USA introduced water metering to control demand.

It was so successful that to avoid financial ruin it had to triple prices for its consumers.

Is this the sort of misery he wants to inflict on us?

-John Hodgson, Peacehaven