Threat Of Hosepipe Bans This Summer In Spite Of Wet Winter

The UK could face water shortages and hosepipe bans if this summer is hot and dry, despite having experienced the wettest 18 months since records began.

- Helena Horton 

Leading scientists have said that because the UK is not storing its water properly, the country is vulnerable to the "all or nothing" rain patterns being experienced more frequently owing to climate breakdown.

There have been no new major reservoirs built in the past three decades, rivers have been engineered to move water quickly, so it runs into towns and cities and the sea, and many wetlands have been drained and farmed or built on. This means the water that pelts the UK in winter is not being stored properly, causing floods, which are followed by water shortages in summer.

The Environment Agency released a report last week that predicts a growing shortfall of water in coming years, leading to a deficit of almost 5bn litres of water a day by 2050. That is more than a third of the 14bn litres of water currently put into public water supply.

The shortfall may be revised upwards; without action, draft government plans indicate that by 2050 the public water supply will face a shortfall of more than 4,800m litres a day, up from 4,000 Ml/d in the 2021 draft, owing to revised forecasts of demand and additional reductions in abstraction to improve the environment.