Britons spend more time in the shower than any other Europeans - up to 20 minutes EVERY day

Some 15 per cent of men and women are there for more than 11 minutes each day and three per cent admit standing under the water for more than 20 minutes.

Power shower: Britons spend up to twenty minutes washing

The Spaniards, French and Germans spend less time washing, with one in ten standing under the water for just two minutes a time, according to the Ipsos MORI poll for the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Only four per cent of Brits dash in and out so quickly.

But RSC chief executive Richard Pike was far from impressed at such cleanliness. He warned: 'We have to take on board that water is a precious resource and in the years to come it is going to become increasingly scarce.

"We can save water massively by using less when washing, without compromising hygiene.

"One should be able to shower thoroughly in a couple of minutes. We hear stories of people staying in the shower for half an hour at a time, which is absurd and self-indulgent. They say that it helps them relax.

"If we had a population of five million and not 60 million such self-indulgence might be tolerable.

"But today, with the world facing water shortages, that simply doesn't wash."