Is England Running Out Of Water?

With a dire warning from the UK’s chief executive of the Environment Agency, will England run out of water during the next 25 years?

By: Ringo Bones

Although he offered relatively easy manageable steps to avert such a crisis if the UK’s citizens act now, UK’s chief executive of the Environmental Agency Sir James Bevan had issued a warning that the country is facing the “jaws of death” – a term often used to define the point where water demand from the country’s rising population could soon surpass the falling supply resulting from climate change and according to Bevan, this could happen within the next 25 years. However, this so-called “water crisis” could be avoided with ambitious action to cut people’s water use by a third and leakage from water pipes by 50-percent, he says, along with big new reservoirs, more desalination plants and transfers of water across the country.

In his speech six days ago, Bevan says: “Water companies all identify the same thing as their biggest operating risk: climate change.” By 2040, more than half of our summers are expected to be hotter than the 2003 heatwave, he says, leading to more water shortages and potentially 50 to 80-percent less water in some rivers in the summer. Quite a dire warning indeed given that the last time the UK’s water shortage got worldwide attention was back in 1959 when a drought in Speyside, Scotland triggered a “minor emergency” when the streams that gave Scotch Whiskey its distinctive flavor dried up.

The UK’s projected water shortage is actually caused by projected population growth as it is expected to rise from 67-million to 75-million in 2050, increasing the demand for water. But Bevan says the average person’s daily use of 140 liters could be cut to 100 liters in 20 years by more efficient use in homes and gardens. Currently, about a third of water is loss to leaks or wastage. Although, the most controversial change needed to increase supply is building new mega-reservoirs, such as that proposed near Abingdon in Oxfordshire. This was deemed controversial because according to Bevan: “We have not built a new reservoir in the UK for decades, largely because clearing all the planning and legal hurdles necessary is so difficult and local opposition so fierce”.