Rivers

Another key factor is the need to reduce how much water is taken – or "abstracted" – by water companies and other users from England's rivers, the report says.

Over-abstraction risks wrecking some rivers, particularly the fragile ecosystems of the country's chalk streams, said Mr Lovell.

"It ultimately could see the demise of those rivers to an extent that they will never come back in the same form," he told the BBC.

"We're also looking at using existing rivers, canals and other means to transfer water from areas where it is plentiful in the UK to the south east and east of the country where it is less plentiful," Taylor explained.

Rivers are traditionally sites of salvation, as well as play.