During the present extended dry weather, people have being advised across the nation to use water responsibly to conserve water resources and the environment.
The National Drought Group, comprised of top decision-makers from the Environment Agency, government, water firms, Water UK, the NFU, and environmental protection organisations including the Angling Trust and Rivers Trust, was convened by the Environment Agency today.
The committee considered the present state of affairs and decided on steps to take in the next weeks to safeguard the environment and water supplies in the UK.
Following their meeting on Tuesday, the members of the National Drought Group decided to keep up their tight cooperation in order to monitor and control the current situation.
This will include holding meetings for the National Drought Group’s water supply and communications sub-groups.
Executive director for the environment at the Environment Agency and chairman of the NDG, Harvey Bradshaw, said:
Although the extremely high temperatures of the previous week have passed and there are currently no plans to restrict the use of essential water, we can all do our part to ensure that this continues while our rivers are exceptionally low by reducing unnecessary water consumption and following company recommendations.
To manage the current situation, we are collaborating closely with water providers, farmers, and other water consumers.
With further dry weather predicted for August, the conference today was a crucial step in deciding on collaborative activities to conserve our water resources, including closer monitoring and management of water supplies and the environment.
To safeguard people’s access to water and conserve the environment, Environment Agency employees are working incredibly hard across the nation to monitor river levels, respond to environmental emergencies, and implement the early stages of our drought strategies in many parts of England.
Director of Policy at Water UK, Stuart Colville, remarked
The hottest weather has persisted across much of the nation after the driest winter and spring since the 1970s.
Water firms are doing everything they can, including collaborating closely with the government and authorities, to minimise the need for any restrictions and ensuring rivers continue to flow.
They have thorough strategies in place to manage water resources for customers and the environment.
We are advising everyone to carefully examine how much they are using given the exceptional circumstances as we continue to experience extraordinarily high demand.
Water’s Worth Saving is a national water conservation initiative conducted by the water business that offers the general public practical advice on how to reduce water use in the home and garden.
Present circumstances
In order to control water levels and take appropriate action, regulators and water firms collaborate closely.
This includes turning on various tiers of established dry weather plans in the most impacted locations.
The majority of England has entered the “Prolonged Dry Weather” designation, which means that the EA and the water corporations are now implementing preventative measures to reduce consequences as hydrological conditions deteriorate and improving their monitoring and preservation of water resources.
There are now no ‘drought areas’ in England, as the majority of water corporations have adequate reservoir storage for the summer season.
If additional action is required, individual water providers will decide whether to impose temporary use prohibitions (sometimes known as hosepipe bans), and the Environment Agency and Defra will decide whether to issue drought permits and drought orders, respectively.
However, the conditions brought on by this year’s so far below-average rainfall in many regions of England have been made worse by recent extremely high temperatures.
The EA and water firms are now putting their well-practiced and publicly published drought strategies into action and urging everyone to play their part in reducing water use.
The Met Office has forecast several more potentially dry weeks, especially in the South and East of the country.
This will be even more important as we continue to adjust to a changing environment in the future.
According to projections, certain rivers may have between 50 and 80 percent less water in the summer by 2050, and summertime temperatures may rise by up to 7.4 degrees.
The EA implements a wide range of drought risk management strategies, many of which are already in place. These consist of:
managing abstraction licences to strike a balance between user needs and the needs of our environment;
implementing water transfer programmes that enable rivers to be artificially maintained in order to assist those areas that are most negatively impacted by protracted dry weather;
requesting drought orders to safeguard the environment, such as requesting this week a drought order for the Holme Styes reservoir in Yorkshire to meet environmental demands from Defra;
Creating plans with water providers and confirming that they have drought strategies in place and are carrying them out. Every water provider in England has a drought plan that is public and accessible online;
collaborating with the agricultural sector to better support farmers in regions with protracted dry weather;
restoring oxygen to the water and saving stranded fish in areas where river flows are particularly low;
aiding the Fire and Rescue Service in fighting wildfires and waste fires
The National Drought Group will keep up its close cooperation over the upcoming weeks and meet again in August.