Those passing through St Albans over the weekend may have been shocked to stumble across an enormous bath tub in the city centre.

The tub, which stands at around 125 times the size of a bath you'd find at home and can hold 10,000 litres of water, took up residency in the heart of the city to highlight St Albans' water wasting habits.

The show-stopping basin was commissioned by local water supplier Affinity Water, as part of its SOS: Save Our Streams campaign.

The campaign brings the subject of water wastage to the people of St Albans, as figures show that residents are using six per cent more water than the national average, even though 59 per cent of those surveyed believe they use less water than the national average.

Affinity Water’s team encouraged visitors to the tub to reduce water wastage in their homes and gardens, and join forces to protect the UK’s chalk streams.

Daisy Cooper MP paid a visit to the team to see the bath and find out more about the campaign.

She said: “It's fantastic news that St Albans district residents are using 700,000 fewer litres of water a day since October’s ‘Save 10 a day’ campaign and I'm really pleased to see the roll-out of Affinity Water's SOS: Save Our Streams campaign, which will encourage people across many more counties to do their bit to stop water wastage, too.

%image(15478527, type="article-full", alt="Daisy Cooper MP visited Affinity Water's giant tub on May 27, and added that "it's a great time to remind people that if we all reduce water wastage, we can help save our precious chalk streams"")

"With Sustainable St Albans Sust Fest events happening this week, lots of St Albans residents will have the environment at the forefront of their minds, so it's a great time to remind people that if we all reduce water wastage, we can help save our precious chalk streams."

Coined ‘Britain’s Great Barrier Reef’, chalk streams - which boast clear water from underground springs - are more endangered than both the Bengal tiger and black rhino.

Now at risk due to unsustainably high demand for water, 71 per cent of Affinity Water customers have stated that they interested in reducing water use at home. The new SOS: Save Our Streams campaign aims to support them with tailored water saving advice.

Jane Bellard, SOS campaign project lead, said: “Chalk streams like the River Ver are incredibly rare, one of only 200 in the world.

“We are asking residents in St Alban’s to save water equivalent to more than 100 of our giant bathtubs every day, to help save our streams. This is around 19 litres per household, which can be shaved off really easily, simply by turning the tap off when the water is running but not being used.”

To help the people of St Albans to tackle their water wasting habits, Affinity Water have created saveourstreams.co.uk, which provides tailored advice to help people waste less water.

Affinity Water launched a ‘Save 10 a Day’ campaign across St Albans last year, which saw residents saving more than 700,000 litres of water a day. Building on this success, Affinity Water is calling on everyone to take action to save chalk streams from the brink by saving 21 million litres per day (less than 10 litres per person, per day).

This is the equivalent of 140 million cups of tea, 37 million pints of water, 262,500 baths of water and 8.4 Olympic swimming pools.

Jane added: “Affinity Water is committed to ending unsustainable abstraction from local streams, but it must be a community effort. Saving water at home will not only help us do this, it will support our efforts towards a zero-carbon future.”

Cllr Graham McAndrew, chair of the of the Hertfordshire Climate Change and Sustainability Partnership (HCCSP) said: “We wholeheartedly encourage residents and businesses to support Affinity Water’s campaign to Save Our Streams.

"Two key priorities for HCCSP are addressing biodiversity and water sustainability and the partnership is working across Hertfordshire on joint Strategic Action Plans to tackle specific county wide issues in these two areas.

“The demand for water is rising but you can play a part in reducing the burden. We can all make a difference by using a little less water at home or at work. If we do, it’ll all add up and we can help protect our local environment in Hertfordshire.”