Drought summit as rivers dry up

20 February 2012 Last updated at 05:07 ET

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman is hosting a drought summit later as parts of England struggle with groundwater levels lower than in 1976.

She has invited water companies, farmers and wildlife groups to discuss the situation in south-east England, East Anglia and the East Midlands.

Ms Spelman said she wants the meeting to work out "preventative measures" that could be taken now.

The River Kennet in Wiltshire has dried up completely west of Marlborough.

The Angling Trust's chief executive Mark Lloyd said "it's a pile of stones you can walk across in ordinary shoes".

Many rivers in south-east England have also dried up.

Mrs Spelman said: "We're bringing everybody together today - the water industry, all the water users, the agriculture industry, the horticulturists, and also the green groups who are obviously concerned that we protect nature - because it's important actually we think about what preventative measures we can take now."

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North-south drought divide

Piping water from wet north to dry south has seemed like a good idea to a long line of people.

It was last considered seriously by the Environment Agency in 2006. The title of its report posed the question: "Do we need large-scale water transfers for south-east England?"

And the text gave the answer - no.

The most radical scheme would see five parallel pipes constructed, each 1.6m in diameter, bringing water from the northern Pennines to London.

But it would cost between five and eight times more than developing extra infrastructure in the south-east, they concluded.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme many parts of the country had suffered their second dry winter and the likelihood of a hosepipe ban was greater this time around.

Mrs Spelman said water companies had managed to reduce leakage by 36% since the 1990s but there was still a danger of a water shortage

Trevor Bishop, head of water resources at the Environment Agency (EA), said it was "planning for the worst" and warned water restrictions could be introduced unless heavy and prolonged rain falls before April.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) called Monday's summit to discuss what measures are being implemented to tackle drought and decide what actions need to be taken to mitigate against its impact in the future.

Last year the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, suggested in his column in the Daily Telegraph canals and aqueducts be built to carry water from the north of England, which tends to be wetter.

He was the latest in a series of politicians and policy-makers who has suggested such a scheme.

Scotland has had its wettest winter for a century but Mrs Spelman told Today: "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."

"But one of the things we will talk about at the summit today is talk about improved connectivity between water companies as part of improving our resilience in the face of these conditions."

The wildlife charity WWF has accused the government of dragging its heels.

WWF's freshwater spokesperson, Rose Timlett, said: "This is a drought we've seen coming. Rivers such as the Kennett, which runs through Wiltshire and Berkshire, have been dry since September 2011.

BBC forecaster Sarah Keith-Lucas on whether the dry conditions are likely to persist

"Back then everyone agreed we would be in a serious drought situation if we had another dry winter, but not much has been done about it."

She said the government's White Paper, which was published in December, had some good ideas, such as licences to remove water, but these proposals might not be implemented for years.

Water Bill

When the White Paper was published Defra said it planned to publish a draft Water Bill "in early 2012" and introduce the bill "as soon as Parliamentary time allows".

Earlier this month the government published a Water Industry (Financial Assistance) Bill which proposed ways of funding major infrastructure projects like the Thames Tunnel.

But Defra said it still intended to publish a draft Water Bill "in the coming months".

Ms Timlett said: "Ultimately the government needs to accelerate these changes and grasp the nettle by fully supporting the case for water metering.

"We'd also like to see the government taking a much stronger lead to encourage people at home to do all they can to cut water waste and help wildlife through this drought," she added.

But Mrs Spelman told Today it was not "inevitable" that everyone would have water meters in the future and added: "Water meters can be helpful, particularly for households with a small number of occupants or a reduced income but the most important is to save water. Everybody knows how to save water."

Richard Aylard, sustainability director for Thames Water, said London and the Thames Valley had received below-average rainfall for 18 of the last 23 months.

The amount of water in the River Lee, which runs through Hertfordshire and north east London, was only 24% of its usual level while the Kennet was only 31% of average levels.

Southern Water has applied for a drought permit to enable it to restock Bewl Water reservoir in Kent, which is only 41% full.

If the Environment Agency grants the permit it would allow the company to take more water from the River Medway.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-17091256

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