Inventor Sir James Dyson is calling on aspiring engineers to devise a way to solve Britain’s drought problem.

The founder of the Malmesbury-based bagless vacuum cleaner firm, who turned 65 yesterday and who has just risen to 22nd in the Sunday Times Rich List 2012, believes ‘ingenious ideas’ are needed to make us more efficient in the home.

Despite Wiltshire’s wettest April on record, Britain’s biggest water firm announ-ced this week that the hosepipe ban would remain in place until December.

“Water is flooding the headlines,” said Dyson.

“Young engineers should step up and develop technology to solve this problem.”

Writing in the Telegraph this week, Dyson said he feels frustrated by the irony of the wet weather coupled with the supposed drought.

He said: “It is politicians who should be leading this charge... but ingenious ideas from engineers will also help us use what we’ve got more efficiently.”

If anyone is in a position to comment on the future ingenuity of engineers, then Dyson certainly is.

With an honorary degree (Doctor of Engineering) from the University of Bath, he is most famous for his Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner and Airblade hand-dryer. He is also noted for setting up the Dyson Foundation in 2002 to support design and engineering education.

The foundation runs the James Dyson Awards, an international award for graduates to ‘celebrate, encourage and inspire the next generation of design engineers’.