May 31, 2025 11:41 PM
(This post was last modified: Jun 1, 2025 12:12 AM by C C.)
Britain ‘could run out of drinking water within ten years’
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/art...-bp9c2cvlx
EXCERPT: Britain will run out of drinking water by the mid-2030s if new reservoirs are not built, the water minister has warned, as the government seized control of new projects from local councils.
Emma Hardy told Times Radio that the country was facing an “infrastructure crisis because we haven’t built the reservoirs we need”. She added: “In fact, we built no reservoirs for the past 30 years.”
Ministers have taken over two reservoir projects in East Anglia and Lincolnshire by deeming them “nationally significant” and speeding them through the planning process. It will also take over future projects.
Population growth and climate change have put pressure on the water system, and Hardy said: “The problem is, if we don’t take action we are going to be running out of the drinking water that we need by the mid-2030s, so this is why the government’s taking unprecedented action to make these reservoir projects like the beautiful one behind me here [in Wakefield] into projects that are nationally significant projects.”
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Drinking water shortage in decade without new reservoirs, minister says
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8dv6l2jlzo
EXCERPT: "It's absolutely critical that we build these reservoirs now," David Henderson, chief executive of Water UK, told BBC News. "If we don't build them now, we wait another 10 years, it's going to cost even more, so we can't keep kicking the can down the road any longer."
But building reservoirs doesn't come cheaply, even with accelerated planning processes. That could ultimately filter down to people's bills. Nor does it come quickly. No new major reservoirs are due to be completed this decade.
Some experts highlight that reservoirs are no silver bullet, and warn that managing how we use water needs to take greater precedence in a warming climate. "We need a complete overhaul of the way we use water, to plug leaks, cut down on waste and store water where it falls as rain," said Prof Hannah Cloke of the University of Reading.
"It would be better to make more difficult decisions around regulation of new building, as well as retrofitting older homes and businesses, to cut waste and recycle water where it is used, rather than pumping water across huge distances," she added.
And like any major project, the new reservoirs could prove unpopular with local communities, particularly those whose homes and farmland are cleared to make way for them. "The decision by the government to fast-track through the 'national significant infrastructure' route is in my opinion very bad and will make the public very angry," argued Dr Kevin Grecksch of the University of Oxford.
But David Porter of ICE stressed the need to take decisions "for the greater good".
"Now, that's not to say that we should ride roughshod over the views of local people, and that's not to say that every project is justifiable," he said. "But if the decision maker is satisfied that on balance it is the right thing to do, you need to find a way through the objection in order to deliver these projects."
In response to the government's announcement, shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins blamed Labour's farming and immigration policies for pressures on water supplies...
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/art...-bp9c2cvlx
EXCERPT: Britain will run out of drinking water by the mid-2030s if new reservoirs are not built, the water minister has warned, as the government seized control of new projects from local councils.
Emma Hardy told Times Radio that the country was facing an “infrastructure crisis because we haven’t built the reservoirs we need”. She added: “In fact, we built no reservoirs for the past 30 years.”
Ministers have taken over two reservoir projects in East Anglia and Lincolnshire by deeming them “nationally significant” and speeding them through the planning process. It will also take over future projects.
Population growth and climate change have put pressure on the water system, and Hardy said: “The problem is, if we don’t take action we are going to be running out of the drinking water that we need by the mid-2030s, so this is why the government’s taking unprecedented action to make these reservoir projects like the beautiful one behind me here [in Wakefield] into projects that are nationally significant projects.”
- - - - - - - - - - -
Drinking water shortage in decade without new reservoirs, minister says
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8dv6l2jlzo
EXCERPT: "It's absolutely critical that we build these reservoirs now," David Henderson, chief executive of Water UK, told BBC News. "If we don't build them now, we wait another 10 years, it's going to cost even more, so we can't keep kicking the can down the road any longer."
But building reservoirs doesn't come cheaply, even with accelerated planning processes. That could ultimately filter down to people's bills. Nor does it come quickly. No new major reservoirs are due to be completed this decade.
Some experts highlight that reservoirs are no silver bullet, and warn that managing how we use water needs to take greater precedence in a warming climate. "We need a complete overhaul of the way we use water, to plug leaks, cut down on waste and store water where it falls as rain," said Prof Hannah Cloke of the University of Reading.
"It would be better to make more difficult decisions around regulation of new building, as well as retrofitting older homes and businesses, to cut waste and recycle water where it is used, rather than pumping water across huge distances," she added.
And like any major project, the new reservoirs could prove unpopular with local communities, particularly those whose homes and farmland are cleared to make way for them. "The decision by the government to fast-track through the 'national significant infrastructure' route is in my opinion very bad and will make the public very angry," argued Dr Kevin Grecksch of the University of Oxford.
But David Porter of ICE stressed the need to take decisions "for the greater good".
"Now, that's not to say that we should ride roughshod over the views of local people, and that's not to say that every project is justifiable," he said. "But if the decision maker is satisfied that on balance it is the right thing to do, you need to find a way through the objection in order to deliver these projects."
In response to the government's announcement, shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins blamed Labour's farming and immigration policies for pressures on water supplies...