Readers' letters - July 9

With regard to warnings over water supplies, has nobody realised the water shortage situation is only going to get worse? More and more houses are being built and more and more water is going to be needed to supply them. More water will have to be extracted from the lakes and more valleys, including their villages, will have to be flooded to form more reservoirs. Today it is a water shortage, tomorrow gas and electricity. The root of all these problems is the population explosion in our country. The population of the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics, are:1851 - 27 million1951 - 50 million2018 - 61 million2050 - predicted to reach 78.4 millionHow is the population of the UK to be controlled and limited? That is a big question.Realist

Importance of health and safetyWe should be proud that countless deaths and injuries have been avoided because of the UK’s robust approach to safety. Yet safety measures in place for adventure activities are under review, and one option up for discussion is to abolish the licensing authority and replace it with a voluntary scheme. How parents would be happy to send their child off on a kayaking or mountain biking excursion without a statutory, enforced, safety scheme in place is difficult to fathom.Health and safety protection should be celebrated, not watered down. It must be noted that many safety laws have their roots in Europe. This means that proper scrutiny is needed during the Brexit process when it is decided which laws will stay and which will go when the UK leaves the EU.Brett DixonAddress supplied

No such thing as poverty here

Many thousands of words have been written about poverty throughout the world but in this once great country of ours, we don’t call it poverty – we call it mismanagement of funds. How can anyone really say we are poor when people spend many thousands on holidays, have cars, spend many hundreds of pounds on the latest mobile phones, eat in very good restaurants and a two children family brings in more than enough?Yet some people say they cannot afford to give them breakfast. Rubbish. Six eggs £1, bag of porridge £1, two pints of milk £1. Hang your head in shame. I don’t like looking back – wages £3 per week, no family allowance and six children to feed. Yet people managed.J Taylor via email

No more skylarks

Has anyone noticed how developers name their new estates after what they have just destroyed? Presumably in a cynical attempt to sell their purchasers a piece of imagined rural idyll. Please could they be a bit more honest? Three Dead Badgers, No More Skylarks or Goodbye Lapwings would be much nearer the mark than the Meadows, Fields and Pastures we are being offered.Jane Adamsvia emailImprove the train servicesRe: Metrolink could be coming to Wigan (WP July 5). What do we need a tram service to Manchester for? It takes 35 minutes on the train, it would take a lot longer on the tram, with all the extra stops they would put in.What’s needed is a more frequent and faster train service to Manchester.Andy Crowthervia Wigan Post FacebookGhost townRe: Metrolink could be coming to Wigan (WP July 5). This could drive people away from Wigan for shopping. It’s already a ghost town now.Luke Peetvia Wigan Post Facebook