THE MAGAZINE FOR THE DRAINAGE, WATER & WASTEWATER INDUSTRIES
MAIN FEATURE
system and keeping pipework clear to cope with extreme water events.
Managing our water in the future so there’s enough to go round
Filling our reservoirs is vitally important as the average person in the UK now uses 142 litres of water per day. So, rainfall and rivers mainly fill our existing reservoirs around the country to answer this growing need for potable water. But those reservoirs can empty fast in dry weather. Do we need to build more reservoirs, therefore? We appear to be building some in Oxfordshire, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, and there’s recent talk of flooding a quarry in Somerset to create a reservoir. A new one in Hampshire is under construction and due to open in 2029. But will these be enough as the National Infrastructure Commission says at least 30 new reservoirs are needed in the UK? Opposition to some has apparently hinged on water companies not fixing enough leaks and wasting so much water.
Also, if we’re surrounded by water, as we are, why can’t we build desalination plants to answer the growing potable
water need? This would mean that in times of drought we would be much less vulnerable. No doubt people would complain about the taste of desalinated water, however. A ‘greener’ option would be to get people to use less water overall. We have definitely been spoilt in the UK with free-flowing potable water, day in, day out. We even flush our loos with it, when there are other countries in the world which are desperate for water of the quality we take for granted.
Our fantastic network of drainage companies around the UK is on hand 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year, to deal with surveying, blockages, repairs, rebuilding, flood events, emergency pumping and waste management services. It seems as though they will never be short of work these days as there is generally more water about, particular during the winter months, and this water is causing increasing havoc to homes, businesses, roads and infrastructure.
The Environment Agency says woodland planting is having a beneficial effect. It has just released a report (12 February)
about this at Working with nature to boost nation’s flood resilience: New evidence of natural flood management benefits -
GOV.UK
But do you have a handy woodland near your home or business? And are hotter summers going to distress or even destroy these trees? Apparently, some of our native species are under serious threat from climate change. Historically of course, much of Britain was covered with forests. Did we bring this flooding issue upon ourselves, therefore?
The importance of natural underground aquifers
So, does all that water ultimately end up in the seas around us? Much of it does, but we retain a great deal of it in natural underground aquifers and in our reservoirs.
Do you know what an oolite is? Well, it’s one of the 11 types of principal aquifers the Environment Agency has designated in England and Wales. These are (youngest type first): crag, chalk, lower greensand, Spilsby sandstone, Corallian limestone, oolites, Triassic sandstone,
Photo courtesy Oneline
linkedin.com/company/draintrader March 2025 | 13
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