A national hosepipe ban is due to be implemented as a national priority alongside mandatory UK-wide water metering by the end of the decade.
That is the key message infrastructure advisers have given the government as the nation prepares for a drought that threatens major disruption to the nation. If action is not taken now, Britain will face a future of queuing for emergency bottled water “from the back of trucks”.
The government was warned four years ago by the National Infrastructure Committee (NIC) that significant new investment would have to be made in the nation’s water supply equipment by the 2030s. Although water utilities have made some improvements, nearly 3 billion liters of water are still lost every day.
Plugging these leaks will require an investment of around £20bn, Sir John Armitt, chairman of the committee, told The Associated Press. Observer this weekend. Failing to invest now will mean, he added, more than double spending on distributing bottled water to UK residents by truck as increasingly frequent droughts hit the nation.
“You have to pay for it, one way or another,” he said. “That could be investing in new reservoirs or moving water around the country, as well as stopping leaks.” water measurement it is considered by the industry to be the best tool for reducing water use: the UK has the highest use in Europe. Water meters are estimated to have been installed in only around half of all households in England and Wales, but these customers use 33 liters per day less than the national average of 141 liters per day.
The NIC’s call was supported by the Rivers Trust, which was one of the key agencies in the emergency. National Drought Group government meeting called last week as dry conditions spread across England.
Rivers Trust’s Mark Lloyd said action should be taken well before the end of the decade. “There needs to be a nationally coordinated publicity campaign to reduce water use and universal water metering,” he said. “Low flows in rivers are disastrous for wildlife, and ultimately we need to take much better care of this incredibly precious resource.”
Mark Owen of the Angling Trust said hose bans needed to be extended across the country, after Southern Water became the first company to introduce a ban on Friday, for the Isle of Wight and Hampshire.
“We need to see these bans proactively implemented in many more places,” Owen said.
He criticized the government’s lack of planning for extreme weather. “There is no strategic, coherent, joint approach. The reaction is always instinctive. What happens when we get to this stage, when it’s very dry and hot, is that all of a sudden usage skyrockets as people fill wading pools and water their lawns.”
Tom Bradshaw, vice president of the National Farmers Union, said more investment is needed in water irrigation, agricultural reservoirs and a better plan to manage water resources. “The lack of rain means crops such as sugar beets and maize are showing signs of stress, while there are challenges for farmers who need to irrigate vegetables and potatoes. The dry weather has also severely hampered grass growth, which could affect winter food supplies.”
Critics say the government has received many warnings but appears to have taken no action.
“What we’re seeing now is that climate impacts in terms of more extreme weather events are happening more frequently and by a larger magnitude than anticipated,” said Martin Baxter of the Institute for Environmental Assessment and Management. “We really have to become more resilient to what we know is on the way.”
A conglomerate of government agencies said major plans were in the works to improve water storage and transfer in England and Wales. In 2019, Ofwat, the Environment Agency (EA) and Drinking Water Inspectorate.
“We are now investigating different schemes with the aim of implementing the most promising one in a couple of years,” said Paul Hickey, Rapid’s managing director.
Among the projects being considered are a number of new reservoirs that could be built in different parts of the country and schemes that would allow engineers to transfer water from the north of England, where supplies are not stressed, to the south. These would involve using the River Severn and the Grand Union Canal as freshwater conduits that would alleviate the situation in the south of England, which has been hardest hit by the drought.
However, these schemes will cost billions of pounds and are unlikely to be implemented in the next decade.
July was the driest month on record since 1911, with just 24% of the amount of rain that would be expected in an average July, according to data from the Met Office. All areas of the country are affected, but in the south and east in particular conditions are critical, with rainfall this July only 14% of the July average for the decade to 2020.
The Ministry of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs rejected the call for a mandatory water meter.
A spokesman told the Observer:
“Water companies have a duty to ensure supply. That’s why we continue to challenge those with poor leak records and are working to ensure they introduce new infrastructure, such as reservoirs and water transfers. We are also taking steps to support water efficiency in homes.”