You Cannot Live Without Water (Water Saved Means Coal, Fuel, Oil, Gas and Electricity for Victory)
A British soldier in desert kit walks past wrecked vehicles beneath a giant hand turning off a running tap, with the quotation 'O for the water they waste in Britain'. The tell for transfer is the soldier and the blue V device lending front-line weight to household water use, and for glittering-generalities the claim that saved water 'means' coal, fuel, oil, gas and electricity 'for victory' with no figures.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- British wartime government fuel and water economy campaign (no issuing department or printer named on the sheet)
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Economy and finance
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Held by NARA, Unrestricted; wartime British government-period print, hosted by owner decision
Issuer not named on the poster; British wartime poster. National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-547.
Text on the object
You cannot live WITHOUT WATER "O FOR THE WATER THEY WASTE IN BRITAIN" WATER SAVED MEANS COAL / FUEL / OIL AND / GAS / ELECTRICITY FOR VICTORY (V device) AVOID WASTE It all depends on me
