England is set to run short of water within 25 years, the chief executive of the Environment Agency has warned.

The country is facing the "jaws of death", Sir James Bevan said, at the point where water demand from the country’s rising population surpasses the falling supply resulting from climate change.

Action is needed by the public to reduce their water use, water companies must cut leaks and new desalination plants and reservoirs must be built, the agency's chief executive has warned.

Wasting water must become "as socially unacceptable as blowing smoke in the face of a baby or throwing your plastic bags into the sea", he is warning at a conference at water-saving organisation Waterwise.

Demand for water is set to rise as the population increases, while supplies are likely to shrink as climate change kicks in, with hotter drier summers, less predictable rainfall and a higher risk of droughts.

The point where the line of rising demand crosses the line of falling supplies on a graph - known by some as the jaws of death and spelling the moment there will not be enough water to meet needs - could occur within 25 years.

On current projections many parts of the country will face significant water shortages by 2050, particularly in the heavily-populated South East.