ENGLAND FACES SEVERE DROUGHT

What this story is about is what is actually being described in Britain as a drought. If the water companies are to be believed, Britain is so short of water that rationing may have to be introduced for millions of people. And there is the prospect of long queues at standpipes in streets all across the country.

Some newspapers have gone so far as to warn of the most serious water crisis in a century, with the Environment Agency saying that if this summer is dry and hot, emergency restrictions could be enforced. The warning about rationing has also revived memories of 1976 when drought conditions forced householders to collect water from standpipes.

England has already seen the first drought order which bans non-essential use for 650,000 customers.

There will be curbs on filling swimming pools or ponds without fish, running ornamental fountains, watering sports grounds, golf courses and parks, as well as operating some car washes. The order was made by the Sutton and East Surrey water company.

Two other companies, Southern and mid-Kent, are waiting to be granted drought orders which would affect another two million people. And more companies are expected to seek similar orders as the summer progresses, including Thames Water which supplies the area where I live.

Yesterday, I received a letter from the company’s managing director, Jeremy Pelczer, who said he wanted to update customers on the current drought situation and ask for help in continuing to save as much water as possible. He also said he wanted to explain why the company has imposed a hosepipe ban and what it is doing about leakage from its pipes.

He said: “We have just had two very dry winters in a row. During a normal winter, the ground soaks up rain like a sponge. Over the summer, this groundwater slowly feeds rivers and enables us to keep our reservoirs full with the water that we treat and supply to your taps. This year, groundwater levels are exceptionally low.

“A lot will depend on how much rain we get to top up the rivers. We can’t predict this accurately but April’s rainfall was only a little over a half of what we would normally expect. The situation is serious and a few wet days won’t be enough to make a difference. It is really important that everyone uses water carefully.”

Explaining why the company had to impose a hosepipe ban, he said that, legally, this is the first step it has to take to restrict non-essential use of water during a drought.

If rainfall continues to be low and there is no significant reduction in the use of water, the company will apply to the government for a drought order, as Sutton and East Surrey has done.

Writing in the Daily Mail, Environment Editor John Ingham said the reasons why southern England is in the grip of a drought can be summed up as one of the longest dry spells in modern history, rising demand and water company inefficiency.

He said that over the past 19 months, the region has had less than 85 percent of its average rainfall. The period has been much drier than the 1974-76 drought. In addition, demand for water has soared, partly because the population has grown but also because of increased use of appliances such as dish-washers, washing machines and power showers.

He estimated that the water industry was also wasting 800 million gallons a day through leaks, enough to meet the needs of 24 million people. He said the worst offender was Thames Water, which loses 200 million gallons a day.

In his letter, Thames’ managing director admitted that leakage in London remained unacceptably high but said the company was doing all it could to get it down, at a cost of half a million pounds a day.

He promised to fix the leaks as fast as possible but made the point that over 3,000 miles of mains were more than 150 years old and needed to be replaced.

As if to confirm what he said, water poured away from a burst main for more than an hour in west London on Monday, in a manner that would be familiar to many people in Trinidad and Tobago. Cars got an unexpected wash and pedestrians had to take off their shoes and roll up their trousers to wade through the flood which spread 500 metres along the road.

The companies are expected to unveil profits totalling nearly ?2 billion this financial year, compared to ?1.7 billion last year. The industry’s lobby group, Water UK, has defended these figures, saying that borrowing to pay for repairs to the supply structure exceeded the amount of profits made by the companies.

A spokesman for the Institute of Civil Engineers said: “Since water privatisation in 1989, there has been little investment in new supplies.

“This has to change. Water is currently valued too cheaply and the only way that new infrastructure can be afforded is to ask consumers to pay the true price for it.”

The statement has annoyed consumer groups who feel that people are already paying more than enough for their water.

With inflation running at just around two percent, consumers have seen their water bills increase by an average of 8.5 percent this year, with more hefty increases in the pipeline (pun not intended).

The crisis of 1976 forced the government to respond by appointing a Minister for Drought. Within days of his appointment, the rains came, earning him the name, the Rainmaker. It would seem that we need the Rainmaker now.

Britain is the fourth richest country in the world and, as such, will not take too kindly to this hint of the Sahara.