8 June 2011

BBC Radio 4 reported this morning that four major UK regions are to be declared drought stricken and may have restrictions placed on water use. Environment Agency officials have reported that Wales, the south-west, the Midlands and East Anglia will be raised to official drought status; the elevation to drought status could see special powers introduced restricting water supplies to farms in affected areas.image expired

The continued lack of rain and increasing temperatures, as the warmest spring on record moves into summer, is afflicting a huge band across the middle of the country. Rain over the bank holiday weekend helped some farmers and increased the flow of some rivers in drier areas, but the Environment Agency said in a Drought Management Briefing paper that much more rain is still needed.  

Although south east England received the second least amount of rain this spring, 58 and per cent of its average rainfall for May, a wetter winter meant reservoirs were full, the region has therefore escaped restrictions so far.

Paul Leinster, the Environment Agency’s Chief Executive, said this year would not be a repeat of the 1976 drought, as some had predicted. However, Leinster did caution that 2012 could see a severe drought if the arid conditions continued over autumn and winter. He said, "It depends on what we see this winter – next year could be the crunch year."

The Environment Agency has pledged to regularly produce a Drought Management brief to inform the public of the latest developments in their region. The current Drought management Brief identifies areas where rainfall has been insufficient to counter the effects of the warmest spring since records began in 1659 and the second driest since 1910. East Anglia has been the worst affected area, receiving just one fifth of its average rainfall.

Jenny Bashford, water policy adviser for the NFU, said that the arid conditions are already severely affecting crops, particularly in the east, where wheat and malting barley are wilting and failing to grow to full size. She lamented, “In East Anglia, we’re looking at 20% losses up to 50% losses. We’re even hearing at the moment about some farmers with total crop loss. That’s not something any business can compete with and crop insurance has never been available.”  

Environment Agency warns of restrictions

In the latest Drought Management Brief, the Environment Agency’s National Drought Coordinator Stuart Sampson revealed, “We do not have any formal Section 57 restrictions in place. Voluntary restrictions are in place this week on the watercourses through the central Fens affecting approximately 140 licences but the recent rain has helped. Farmers are irrigating during the night (6pm to 6am) to reduce water lost to evaporation, following agreement between us, farmers and other abstractors.”

The Agency also revealed that irrigation started so early in Kent this year that it has had to monitor the available resources in the Walland and Romney Marshes to ensure there will be enough water available. Drought Coordinator Sampson said, “Some water abstraction licence holders across parts of England and Wales have had to stop abstracting due to conditions on their licence which are linked to the low river flows. These conditions on licences are being reached up to four to six weeks earlier than normal.”

The agency has also said it is examining a further 200 licences to remove water from rivers and underground sources, which may be subject to restrictions as the drought takes hold.

European situation eases slightly

After suffering under extremely dry conditions, showers finally reached French grain fields last weekend and more rain has been forecast this week. Farmers in France, the EU’s largest grain producer, breathed a sigh of relief, but warned that the rain will not be enough to reverse the severe drought damage to winter crops. The weekend's rains were the first significant precipitation in four months in the North of the country.

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