Why do people think this?

Well you’re right, it’s not quite as simple as that. But there are good reasons to save English water, and they do have an impact on Africa.

Basically, water is quite expensive. Not the kind that falls from the skies into rivers, but the kind that comes from our taps - it’s been treated against bacteria, and filtered and tested to make sure that the chemicals from pollution don’t get into our drinking water. The treatements themselves, while essential, are also fairly un-environmentally friendly, so we don’t want to use those treatments any more than we have to.

This is why we need to take care not to waste water - all that expensive, treated stuff is well-worthwhile for drinking, but if we pour it down the sink because we can’t be bothered to turn the tap off while we scrub our teeth etc, or use a lawn sprinkler attached to the garden tap then it’s quite an expensive waste! That waste is not for the government (the Water Companies are private, not owned by the government any more) but it’s for whoever pays your bills, whoever pays taxes, and the water companies themselves.

So, how does this affect Africa? Not directly, as you say. But English water companies often do have a link to things like Water Aid, which does help Africa. They sense the link between their countries, even it it’s not as direct a link as sharing the same water.

And then, on a larger scale, the whole world does share the same water. The water cycle just means that the same water which rains on England or Africa was once in the seas, then evaporated to form cloud, then moved off to our countries to rain (or not). Polluting or using up the waterways of one country can lead to polluted or lost water in another country, because of the ways that water travels!.

So, yes, we don’t save English water to send it to Africa BUT we do use water responsibly so that our own country and other countries can get the best out of the global water cycle.