04 Jul 2018
Water Saving in the heatwave: From Scotland to Thames, water companies alert public on wise water use
As the great summer weather continues last week saw the first burst of alerts to the public to use less water from Scotland to Thames. This is in measure to try and curb the increased demand such weather provokes. ‘Droughts’ are notoriously slow to develop, and at the point when the seriousness is realised it […]
04 Jul 2018
Preparing for a Drier Future: External pressure on the industry to change
This letter is Minister Rutley‘s (Interim Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) response to the Chief Executive Officer of Ofwat. Ofwat sent a letter to Minister Rutley setting out initial reactions to the National Infrastructure Commission’s ‘preparing for a drier future’ report on water. This included thoughts on how the sector needs to […]
02 May 2018
Preparing for a drier future – National Infrastructure Commission Report
The National Infrastructure Commission has warned that households face a high risk of having their water cut off in times of severe drought, unless utilities halve leakage and build a new grid to transport supplies around the country. The report urges the government to ‘immediately’ start adopting a twin track approach to boost supplies while […]
01 Feb 2018
Leakage & Drought Two articles: Ofwat has clarified the PR19 requirements for leakage
‘Ofwat has clarified the PR19 requirements for leakage. The regulator has confirmed that its approach to leakage performance commitments will take account of companies that might want to start their improvements ahead of the 2020-25 price control period. It has also explained that the approach to the threshold for enhanced outperformance payments is different for […]
10 Jan 2018
South-east England at risk of water shortages this summer
Guardian: Damian Carrington Environment editor ‘A year of unusually dry weather means parts of England are facing summer drought with groundwater and some reservoirs well below normal. A year of dry weather, only slightly alleviated by recent storms, has left much of south-east England facing drought this summer. Groundwater and some reservoir levels are well […]
10 May 2017
Droughts creep up slowly – reports and comment
Unlike the immediacy of flooding events droughts by their very nature creep up slowly, and then once people realise, they are upon us. Three articles which provide food for thought. Water Briefing: Drought on the horizon for the UK? The widespread publication of reports in the national press and media flagging up the prospect of drought […]
21 Sep 2016
Action needed on drought
A new water industry report looking at the long-term resilience of public water supply says the UK faces a “significant and growing risk” from drought. The research report Water resources long term planning framework (2015-2065), released the same day that the nation recorded its warmest September day since 1911, says that an effective response to the […]
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