An investigation by Unearthed reveals How England’s water companies struggled in last summer’s heatwaves Water supplies ran so low during last summer’s drought that England’s environmental regulator warned that companies might break the law to keep the taps running, documents obtained by Unearthed reveal. The internal briefings – obtained under freedom of information laws – […]
2022 was a record-breaking year for weather and is a sign of the UK’s changing climate. The Met Office has published the annual ‘State of the UK Climate’ report, examining the weather of 2022 in the context of long-term climate records. The report highlights how the UK’s climate continues to change, with recent decades warmer, […]
Jamie Hannaford, Principal Hydrologist at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, looks at the current water resources situation and how it may evolve in the coming months using Hydrological Summary, Hydrological Outlook and interactive water situation monitoring tools. Given the current low river flows, soil moisture and groundwater levels and reservoir levels, there is […]
The recent heatwave has put huge pressure on water resources and water companies. The BBC reported that water providers across the west are urging customers to use water responsibly “for the benefit of everyone”. They warned that an “extraordinary” demand due to the hot weather could see a drop in water pressure and potentially affect […]
Environment Agency Chair Emma Howard Boyd last week spoke about water scarcity at the WWT event ‘Water Security in a Changing Environment’. “Drought is on the verge of becoming the next pandemic and there is no vaccine to cure it. Most of the world will be living with water stress in the next few years. […]
Met office climate report 2018 The Met Office have published their annual State of the UK Climate report for 2018. Some of its key findings are: Nine of the 10 warmest years for the UK have occurred since 2002 and all the top 10 warmest years have occurred since 1990. The most recent decade (2008–2017) […]
Environment Secretary calls in Water Bosses to explain leakage failures NB: Some of these links will be behind pay walls Defra: ‘Today’s Times reported on the news that The Environment Secretary has called in the Chief Executives of nine water companies to explain their poor performance on leakage. Environment Secretary Michael Gove said: Customers expect a reliable […]
The Environmental Audit Committee report on the effect of heatwaves has just been released Environment Agency steps up response to mounting impacts of dry weather & drought risk The Environment Agency is stepping up its response to tackle the mounting impacts of continued dry weather and coordinate action to maintain water supplies and manage the other […]