LARGE PARTS of England are facing an inevitable drought this summer, even if heavy rainfall arrives in coming months, British Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman warned yesterday, as she urged the public to save water to limit the impact.
“Drought is already an issue this year with the south-east, Anglia and other parts of the UK now officially in drought, and more areas are likely to be affected as we continue to experience a prolonged period of very low rainfall,” she warned.
Water companies have been told to cut water losses and improve the detection of leaks; to co-operate on imposing hose-pipe bans, and other restrictions on water use from early spring and to prepare applications for drought-permits as early as possible.
Large of parts of England, particularly in East Anglia and surrounding counties, are already regarded as being drought already, while the Meteorological Agency has warned that ‘prolonged periods of heavy rainfall in the near future are unlikely’.
The Environment Agency is working with farmers to encourage them to use on-farm wells and begin to store water, along with inspecting nearly-dry rivers and streams, where there are fears that major numbers of fish will be lost over coming months due to pollution.
Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, parts of Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, and west Norfolk are suffering drought, while Shropshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, East Sussex and Kent are all extremely dry.
In East Anglia, groundwater levels remain exceptionally low. Rainfall in the Midlands, East Anglia and the south east in January was up to a third less than normal, while East Anglia has come through its driest-ever five-month period from last September, according to the Centre for Hydrology and Ecology.
Marshlands in Norfolk are being badly affected, with ever-decreasing amounts of territory available for waders, including red-shanks. The situation has now become so bad that the Wetlands Trust is preparing to pipe in tidal water.
Meanwhile, the East Glen River in Lincolnshire, a tributary of the River Welland, is dry. Although this happens occasionally, it normally occurs in late September and the river is usually flowing again by late January.
Reservoirs operated by South-East Water are less than half-full, while there are problems at four reservoirs serving London operated by Southern Water, though there has been a slow improvement in recent weeks.
Farmers now fear that they will struggle with crops to be sown in the spring, while farmers’ leaders in East Anglia have warned that food-prices in the autumn could soar because drought-affected yields will be rejected by supermarkets.
The National Farmers Union in East Anglia argues that farmers should get priority over other users, including residential, if the water shortages continue “We want to see evidence from government that it is giving food producers a fair crack of the whip,” said the NFU’s Paul Hammett.
The shortages affecting southern parts of Britain are mirrored by heavy rainfall in northern England and Scotland, which has had it wettest winter in 100 years. “People often say ‘well why don’t you just build a pipeline from the north-west to the south-east?’ but it isn’t that simple because water is heavy and costly to transport,” said the Environment Secretary.