The UK could have hosepipe bans and water shortages this year despite experiencing the wettest eighteen months on record, experts have warned.
No major reservoirs have been built in the UK in the last three decades, despite nearly 30 being estimated as necessary to keep up with demand.
Professor Hannah Cloke, a hydrologist at the University of Reading, said that despite record-breaking rainfall in the past year-and-a-half, the country could still experience shortages.
She told The Guardian: “It is always good for water supply levels to be high as we go into the spring and summer, after a record-breaking wet past 18 months, but it is still possible for regions of the UK to dwindle if we experienced another lengthy dry spell.
“Unfortunately, these ‘all or nothing’ periods of rainfall we are experiencing in the UK are likely to increase as heat continues to build up in the atmosphere and oceans.
“We need to realise that our water infrastructure is creaking and requires billions of pounds of investment.”
According to the National Infrastructure Commission, an advisory body, the UK is estimated to need up to an extra 4 billion litres of additional water capacity in England by 2050 to maintain current service levels.
But the last major reservoir built in the UK was more than three decades ago, at Carsington in Derbyshire in 1992.
Two new reservoirs are being built in Lincolnshire, and another in the Fens in the east of England, with another proposed for Havant in Hampshire.
However, experts say the country needs many more to safeguard the future water supply.
Shortages could also continue despite the “extremely wet winter”.
Jamie Hannaford, a hydrologist at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, told the Times: “Rainfall was at least twice the February average across central and southern England.
“If there is below-average rainfall sustained over the coming months, especially if temperatures are also high, leading to high evaporation rates and water demand, then this could put pressure on water supplies in areas where there is limited groundwater storage, which rely on rivers and reservoirs for water supply.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: “Our plan for water sets out more investment, stronger regulation, and tougher enforcement to protect our water environment — including more water storage and improving drainage practices, as well as increased water efficiency measures.
“This is backed by unlocking nearly £500 million in investment by 2025 for the development of large-scale water infrastructure such as reservoirs and water transfer schemes.
“In addition, further investment in infrastructure and water efficiency measures is planned by water companies by 2030.”
