Pictures show drastic water levels in Woodhead Reservoir following driest spring in 100 years
Woodhead Reservoir
Pictures have revealed the startling low water level at Woodhead Reservoir in Derbyshire, the result of the driest spring in the last 100 years.
Although rainfall in the last fortnight has increased water levels at reservoirs across the north west, the pictures of Woodhead Reservoir illustrate the problem policy-makers are having to grapple with as climate change heralds ever warmer temperatures.
England has experienced its driest spring in more than 100 years, beaten only by 1893, the Met Office confirmed earlier this month.
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A spokesman for United Utilities (UU) insisted that Woodhead, despite appearances, was a long way from empty, pointing out that it lies at the top of the Pennines chain of reservoirs and that others further down don't look quite so startling.
So there is no prospect yet of a drought of a hosepipe ban.
Levels in the Pennine series of reservoirs, including Woodhead, are at 51 per cent while across the north west the levels are 65 per cent, said the UU spokesman when we asked about the dramatic pictures of the Woodhead Reservoir which were taken last week.
An aerial view of Woodhead Reservoir
Last week reservoir levels in north east and north west England were at their lowest on record for the time of year, with some sites at only half their average long-term storage, figures published by the Press Association revealed.
Haweswater and Thirlmere in Cumbria were at 49 per cent of their typical capacity due to a combination of dry weather and planned maintenance, while the Pennines group of reservoirs were down to 48 per cent. They are now back up to 51 per cent.
Storage across England as a whole stood at 77 per cent at the end of May, down from 84 per cent at the end of April and the lowest on record for the time of year – though some sites reported normal or above normal levels.
England faces public water shortages of five billion litres a day by 2055 without urgent action to cut leaks, curb use and build new reservoirs, officials at the Environment Agency warned yesterday.
Without efforts to curb the water deficit, there is a likelihood of environmental damage, restricted economic growth, interruptions to supplies and a lack of resilience in areas such as energy and food production, the agency said.
Woodhead Reservoir
Climate change, a growing population and environmental pressures could lead to the shortfall of nearly five billion litres a day in public water supplies – the equivalent to a third of the country’s current daily use, or enough to fill Wembley Stadium four-and-a-half times over each day.
The Environment Agency also warned that the wider economy faces a further deficit of one billion litres a day, with growing demand from the energy sector, food production and businesses such as water-intensive data centres.
The highly populated south east region of England faces the biggest shortfall, with an estimated extra two billion litres of water a day needed between 2030 and 2055.
Some 60 per cent of the shortfall needs to come from water companies managing demand for water from households and businesses, and halving the amount of water lost to leaks, the EA said.
United Utilities said water levels had improved at Woodhead Reservoir
The rest would come from boosting supplies, such as building new reservoirs, desalination plants which turn seawater into drinking water, and schemes that can transfer water from wetter parts of the country to drier areas.
But with those kind of projects taking years to come online, initially some 80 per cent of water shortfalls need to be met by reducing demand and tackling leaks, the agency said.
The warning comes in the Environment Agency’s national framework for water resources, published every five years and setting out the actions needed by utilities, regulators and businesses and the public to manage under-pressure resources.
