Water shortage in England

[holwellcourtfarm]

Today the BBC have carried the words of the EA chief exec saying England will be unable to maintain public water supplies in 25 years unless we change our approach.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47620228

He lists the causes as:

• Population growth
• Climate change
• Mains leakage
• Attitude (being wasteful of water).

Many of you know my water background. Personally I'd add:

• Excessive agricultural drainage
• Soil damage from modern agricultural practices

Both of these have changed the way our rivers and landscapes water cycle functions, reducing infiltration to aquifers and inflating rivet flood peaks.

Should agricultural change be part of the solution? Should this be one of the main "Public money for public goods" elements?

Thoughts.

 

[7610 super q]

We've had 2 dry years. 1976....and 5 dry weeks in 2018.
Anyhoo....ignoring that, build more reservoirs, more pipework to pump water from different areas, stop leaks. That should see us right for the next 200 years.

 

[kfpben]

I switched off to be honest when the news said ‘due to climate change our summers are getting hotter and drier’.
With the notable exception of last summer most summers over the last decade have been fairly cool and damp.
I would think massive population growth in London (1million extra in the last 15 years!) coupled with a leaky infrastructure are the main issues.

 

[Bald Rick]

It’s ok ... England will just carry on stealing our water and drown another few villages.

 

[DRC]

No, just build more reservoirs. There’s plenty of water in this country.
Oh, and bring things like water, back into public ownership, rather than just being about shareholders. Mend the blessed leaks, would be a start.
And stop trying to blame a bit of ploughing for all life’s ills. This forum is becoming very tedious and preachy!

 

[kfpben]

As an aside I find it quite amusing the more shrill the global jet setters sermons get about global warming the better our weather seems to be getting. Last Summer can be repeated every year if you ask me. Recent Autumns have mostly been kind.

We even get more snow and frost than we used to. I remember being told by the geography teacher at school that ‘within ten years southern England will have its last snowfall’. 17 years later and we now seem to get several fairly decent falls of snow most winters.

Before anyone points it out I do know that weather in one small corner of the globe doesn’t equal climate.

 

[spin cycle]

No, just build more reservoirs. There’s plenty of water in this country.
Oh, and bring things like water, back into public ownership, rather than just being about shareholders. Mend the blessed leaks, would be a start.
And stop trying to blame a bit of ploughing for all life’s ills. This forum is becoming very tedious and preachy!

spot on...build lots of little resevoirs along rivers..run them at 75% during winter to alleviate flooding and have plenty of water for summer

 

[rob1]

of course all the clever people will say we need to build more storage until of course its near them

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

London is a huge part of the problem around here. We live in the driest part of the country (average rainfall around 630mm) with 1/4 of the country's population on our doorstep using water from our environment. Too many people in a dry place. We had 4 dry winters here in 1996 to 1999 leading to our local rivers disappearing and came VERY close to rationing of mains water (supply switched off on alternate days).

Our local water company is consulting on its water resource management plan for the next 50 years at present and accepts that reducing leakage, new reservoirs and bringing in (more) water from further afield will be necessary. Already they buy water from surrounding companies.

However this has not only just happened. I can take you to many places in villages around here where there are large 18th and 19th century water mills but the rivers are now almost dry except during floods. Nobody would have built those mills unless there was sufficient regular flow to run them. I have spoken to elderly residents in those villages who remember swimming in those same rivers in summer only 70 or so years ago. Something has gone badly wrong in that time.

 

[Exfarmer]

I understand they have knocked down several dams up north, perhaps other here know more

 

[Exfarmer]

London is a huge part of the problem around here. We live in the driest part of the country (average rainfall around 630mm) with 1/4 of the country's population on our doorstep using water from our environment. Too many people in a dry place. We had 4 dry winters here in 1996 to 1999 leading to our local rivers disappearing and came VERY close to rationing of mains water (supply switched off on alternate days).

Our local water company is consulting on its water resource management plan for the next 50 years at present and accepts that reducing leakage, new reservoirs and bringing in (more) water from further afield will be necessary. Already they buy water from surrounding companies.

However this has not only just happened. I can take you to many places in villages around here where there are large 18th and 19th century water mills but the rivers are now almost dry except during floods. Nobody would have built those mills unless there was sufficient regular flow to run them. I have spoken to elderly residents in those villages who remember swimming in those same rivers in summer only 70 or so years ago. Something has gone badly wrong in that time.

I think you will find that many of those rivers had weirs and dams which have disappeared.

 

[kiwi pom]

of course all the clever people will say we need to build more storage until of course its near them

I was just thinking that.
I'll be waiting for the "Help they want to turn my farm into a reservoir" thread


Bet the first response is "Get an agent"

 

[kiwi pom]

I seem to remember people starting to talk about water shortages and the need for more storage, in spring a few years ago? Think it was 2012?
How did that year end up again?

 

[Pan mixer]

The chap on the pm programme said that no new reservoirs have been built recently - our local reservoir which covers some 1500 acres had a major expansion in the last 10 years and now holds 60% more water than it did, they added 10 feet in depth, a fairly major task but not much demolition/local opposition.

Currently in one of the feeder sections they appear to be boosting storage by letting water onto my fields - well theirs technically, I am the lowly tenant here.

Other pictures from today on taw

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

I think you will find that many of those rivers had weirs and dams which have disappeared.

Not where I'm thinking. Lots of weirs being removed now though as part of the "Water Framework Directive" habitat improvements.

 

[Yale]

It’s ok ... England will just carry on stealing our water and drown another few villages.

To quote a guy from Tryweryn/Llyn Celyn area,’best thing they did was flood the place as it was full of fluke’.

 

[Nearly]

@Gator

 

[bobk]

I'll be in the money if this story is true .

 

[Gator]

@Gator

Hahaha not here there isn't, 6 reservoirs and there all overflowing I've lost for sale, it's worth more than milk

 

[hendrebc]

If I can get paid to infiltrate more water into my soil then I'm game. How would they measure it and make it results based though. And without rewarding the ones that f**ked up their soil in the first place when they finally get round to storing some. It would just be like every other subsidy it would be open to all kinds of abuse and fiddling to get better or worse results depending on what they wanted it to show.
I think one of the things tir gofal (the old Welsh environment scheme) used to pay for was blocking farm drains.