2012 UK Drought

[Summer Sun]

Current drought situation

Parts of East Anglia and South East England remain in drought with water company restrictions in place on public water use. However, South West England, the Midlands and parts of Yorkshire are now no longer in official drought status due to recent rainfall and the fact that water company temporary use (hosepipe) bans in these areas will be very unlikely.

It has been the wettest April on record and the continuing rainfall in May has significantly increased river and reservoir levels, reducing pressure on the environment and public water supplies in some parts of England.

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/drought/31749.aspx

[IanM]

If one is in a serious drought situation then water companies will apply water restrictions. The fact that many of the regions which are marked as in a drought situation dont have any water restrictions or plans to introduce them demonstrates that something is not right with your data. Namely, its too general. The regions that have a problem are the minority here in the UK.

I maintain my view that something is not right about the level of attention this is being given in the media at a time when we have all been experiencing flooding for weeks.

If its been such a big problem for so many years then why have the water companies not altered their infrastructure to cope?

Could it be that they dont expect the situation to be a problem in the future? or is it being overplayed?

Oh, it's a conspiracy? why didn't you just say so? It's all so much clearer now, those pesky illuminati secretly holding back water so only the wealthy can wash their Bentleys.

[chionomaniac]

Oh, it's a conspiracy? why didn't you just say so? It's all so much clearer now, those pesky illuminati secretly holding back water so only the wealthy can wash their Bentleys.

Probably the same conspiracy that affected eastern Texas last year whilst it flooded in Loiusiana......

[shedhead]

This whole argument seems to be going round and round in circles, so perhaps the best thing to do is bring some proper clarity to the situation and deal with facts. Therefore.... In the longer term, drought in the UK can be defined as a 50 per cent deficit over three months, or a 15 per cent shortfall over two years.

It's very unlikely that any part of the UK has recieved less than 50% of rainfall since Noon on Feb 11th 2012, however it is very likely that many, if not most areas of the UK would show a 15% deficit since Noon on May 11th 2010.

End of!

[Village]

Of course there is not a conspiracy. Its just that one has to be able to read between the lines to find the reallity of the situation. This will go down in history as the wettest drought in history.

Even as you argue that all the hype of extreme drought must be correct because a map says so; some of the very water companies that created the hysteria in the first place have now announced that they will lift restrictions.

I guess that speaks volumes for the truth.

[Thundery wintry showers]

What, it will go down as the wettest drought in history because of one exceptionally wet month?

The drought in southern and eastern England during 1989-1991 was mixed in with the wet winter of 1989/90 and the cool cloudy wet June of 1990. During the 1995-97 drought, September 1995 was exceptionally wet in eastern Scotland and November 1995 was exceptionally wet in NE England, and November 1996 was a notably wet month (although also notably sunny for most). However, during both periods rainfall widely fell more than 15% short of the average.

Maybe that wet April will prove to signify the end of the drought, just like the wet September of 1976 led into a succession of wet months (October 1976 and February 1977 in particular) and broke the 1975/76 drought, but only time will tell.

[HighPressure]

Yep going around in circles now, perhaps the question is should we need water restrictions with the amount of water available to us, even in what is a technical drought?

I dont think this drought is a argument for restrictions?

[Nick L]

Of course there is not a conspiracy. Its just that one has to be able to read between the lines to find the reallity of the situation. This will go down in history as the wettest drought in history.

Even as you argue that all the hype of extreme drought must be correct because a map says so; some of the very water companies that created the hysteria in the first place have now announced that they will lift restrictions.

I guess that speaks volumes for the truth.

Well it's far more evidence and fact than you're willing to share with us!

I don't even know what your point is anymore!

Edited May 11, 2012 by Nick L

[shedhead]

Yep going around in circles now, perhaps the question is should we need water restrictions with the amount of water available to us, even in what is a technical drought?

I dont think this drought is a argument for restrictions?

Nail on head HP, the answer being a catagoric NO in my opinion. Quite frankly the whole thing is embarrassing.

[Thundery wintry showers]

Indeed, "are these restrictions necessary?" is an important question.

One closely related issue is the amount of leaks from the water system. Water companies are often reluctant to address those leaks as doing so might hinder their chances of delivering maximum profits to their shareholders in the short term, even if it's for longer-term benefit (under the variant of capitalism that dominates in the UK, a company's primary responsibility is generally to deliver maximum short-term profits to its shareholders). Instead it is easier to mandate that the general public cut down on their use of water for recreation and convenience, arguing that recreation/convenience are non-essential whereas business and maximising profits are essential. This sort of issue is very common.

[chionomaniac]

If I was stranded on a desert island with one hamper of food then I would try and make it last as long as possible - ready for the worst case scenario. Surely the water companies have a moral obligation to do the same with their resources. When the restrictions were announced there was no sign of rescue.

Great - it has rained a lot to ease the pressure but the restrictions were right given the lack of underground water.

TWS - I agree whole heartedly on the issues of leakage and OFWAT should take a far firmer stance on this.

Edited May 11, 2012 by chionomaniac

[Nick L]

I fully agree with the argument that we should never have been in this situation in the first place. We have so much potential to have more water than we'd ever need - the government needs to do something about it but no doubt they'll just paper over the cracks until the next water shortage.

But we ARE in this situation now, it's improving but we're not out of the woods yet.

[Helvellyn]

I think there is a slight issue with the drought map. It now covers a huge area but conceals within it areas that don't actually have much of a problem and areas that are in quite serious trouble. That's a problem with having a generalised map which just says 'drought' and 'non-drought', there is detail missing..

Some of the EA docs are better in this respect although their test sites are not very evenly placed in some areas of the country.

[IanM]

Can we be clear that environmental drought is not the same as a water company drought - hosepipe bans are caused by environmental drought with the added problem of mismanagement and leakage to contend with.

so while the last few weeks rain has helped refill a lot of reservoirs and bumped river levels, the ground water stocks in the areas most affected by restrictions still remain low - pretty much every river is now at normal levels or above, and only 9 monitored ground water levels are in the same state. 42% of them are still rated as exceptionally low.

that's the latest data I can find, from 11th May. currently I can't find any water restrictions that have been lifted, only that the threat of new orders has reduced. the latest published report is from 1st May and can be found here - http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Research/Weekly_WSR_WE_010512.pdf

[shedhead]

Parts of central and southern Iberia have seen less than 45% of average rainfall across the last 5 years and in some of those areas average yearly falls are in the 12-18" range... god only knows what kind of mess we'd be in here with such a low % across such a protracted period. As ever, other developed countries seem to cope with climatic anomolies far better than we do, whether that be drought, floods, snowfall et al.

[IanM]

that's the latest data I can find, from 11th May. currently I can't find any water restrictions that have been lifted, only that the threat of new orders has reduced. the latest published report is from 1st May and can be found here - http://www.environme...R_WE_010512.pdf

Sods law, a couple of smaller regions within the restricted areas just had the orders lifted. I'll fetch my humble pie.

[The PIT]

Well the drought order has been lifted in some areas including the South West, Midlands and parts of Yorkshire.

[Village]

I think there is a slight issue with the drought map. It now covers a huge area but conceals within it areas that don't actually have much of a problem and areas that are in quite serious trouble. That's a problem with having a generalised map which just says 'drought' and 'non-drought', there is detail missing..

Some of the EA docs are better in this respect although their test sites are not very evenly placed in some areas of the country.

Yes, I agree with you. This is the point that I have been trying to make. Most of the country has been tarred with a drought brush when its simply not true. The majority of the UK is not in a drought and does not have restrictions.

[Cheese Rice]

Yes, I agree with you. This is the point that I have been trying to make. Most of the country has been tarred with a drought brush when its simply not true. The majority of the UK is not in a drought and does not have restrictions.

The majority of England is in drought, its been one of the driest three years on record. Whether or not the water companies have restricted water usage is an entirely different story and doesn't necessarily reflect the water levels in that particular area. For example West Yorkshire is in drought but we don't have water restrictions as the source of the water isn't in a low rainfall zone/

[Cheese Rice]

currently I can't find any water restrictions that have been lifted, only that the threat of new orders has reduced. the latest published report is from 1st May and can be found here - http://www.environme...R_WE_010512.pdf

Water restrictions have now been lifted across Yorkshire. Look North on now and the water companies don't expect a ban this summer. Water levels in rivers exceptionally high across the monitored areas although ground water levels remain below what they should be. Paul Hudson commented how it was the driest 18 month period on record however the water ban is probably one of the shortest in history, lasting for only 8 weeks.

[egret]

C'mon, lets just accept it. Announcing Drought Orders causes less pollution and is far more effective than seeding clouds with chemicals.

The rains have come exactly when asked for haven't they?

[HighPressure]

I think the focus should be whether a drought of the current nature should lead to the meltdown of water supplies and in turn if that should be acceptable? Having worked in the industry for nearly 20yrs I strongly believe that it is totally unacceptable that a company which cannot supply it's product can continue to take payment for it? The companies have taken 10 of billions out in profits and will continue to do so unless stronger regulation is put in place. With restrictions in place it is quite possible that firms such as Thames will see profits rise due to lower operating costs.

Like all businesses water companies work on risk factor analysis when formulating it's business and investment plan. What we are seeing now is probably only a a 1 in 10 occurrence yet it is not factored into the investment plan. The question has to be why that is? The answer is that it doesn't need to be because there is no competition or regulation to force that to happen, and no business is going to spend money it doesn't need too.

One problem picked up in the press is the sell off of assets by the companies since privatization and it's pretty hard to defend. Thames actually sold an entire water works at Surbiton for multi millions stating it was no longer required, and so the story goes on.

[HighPressure]

Given the continued rain, and reservoirs near normal water levels throughout the south including Bewl Water now at @75% I expect drought orders to steadily be lifted across the south and East. Although groundwater levels are still low they will improve throughout May leading to no need for restrictions in even these areas or though a few pockets of restrictions may remain such as NW Kent which rely extensively on groundwater.

Edited May 15, 2012 by HighPressure

[Village]

I think I have clearly been vindicated......there is no UK wide drought, there never was. It is a problem for the water companies to invest in the infastructure to cope with increased demand at times of dry weather.

All the nonsense about the majority of the UK in a drought situation while it chucked it down everywhere for weeks and weeks amounted to pure hysteria about nothing. As I said a month ago....its only one small region in England who need to be carefiul because they take ground water and the water companies have failed to invest in alternative supplies.

Almost the whole of the rest of the country is absolutely not in a drought. Rain is never far away in this island of ours.

Edited May 16, 2012 by Village

[summer blizzard]

Time to bump.

No rainfall this week and it looks like a game of spot the rain again at the time of year which sees the strongest evaporation rates.