The years 2023 and 2024 were the warmest recorded and the trend shows no sign of abating. Now, in these dry, dusty dog days of August, following the driest six months to July since 1976, we are dutifully hanging up the hosepipe, throwing washing-up water on the garden and turning the tap off during toothbrushing.
At least, some of us are — Britain is apparently the most profligate nation in Europe when it comes to water. In addition, no new reservoir has been built here for 30 years and Ofwat, the water-company regulator, has been declared unfit for purpose in the Cunliffe Report.
A recent suggestion to delete quantities of emails — digital clutter consumes millions of litres of water — was subsequently pooh-poohed by veteran tech analyst Gary Barnett but, nonetheless, data centres will get bigger and require more water. Electricity generation is the largest water consumer; according to researchers at Oxford University, wind and solar energy could reduce water withdrawals related to power generation by 50% by 2030.
The National Drought Group has declared the lack of rain a ‘nationally significant incident’ in England and recently added south-east Wales to the list of drought-affected areas (with Yorkshire, Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire, East Midlands and West Midlands), as others in the east and south of the country were suffering ‘prolonged dry weather’, the phase before drought. Yorkshire, Thames, South East and Southern water companies have applied postcode-specific hosepipe bans.
"The National Bee Unit sent out a starvation alert, advising beekeepers to check colonies and feed syrup if necessary"
There are, however, regional differences: on damp Exmoor, the grass is still lush and the water level in Wimbleball Reservoir on the Brendon Hills in west Somerset was described earlier this month as ‘comfortable’ at about 60%, a similar level to reservoirs in the South-West, including on Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor, all of which which were much dryer in 2022. Both the British Growers Association and the NFU have observed that shortfalls in crops in some areas will be mitigated by better supplies from cooler, wetter areas — for one thing, it’s been a fine year for apples. Overall, however, only spring barley delivered consistently good yields, thanks to early rain followed by sunshine.
In the Derbyshire Peak District, a dairy farmer has recorded the lowest rainfall in 24 years. He has been forced to give his cows silage — grass cut last year, stored and intended for winter feed — and his milk yield in July was down by almost 10%. In Monmouthshire, a hay merchant says his crops were down by 45%-50% and the price for the small bales he makes for horse owners will rise from £5 to £7 each. In the East of England, fine weather has meant an early harvest of cereals, potatoes and sugar beet, but yields are down. The pea harvest was badly hit, with growers lamenting an average of five peas in a pod instead of the usual eight or nine and brassica growth has been stunted. The National Bee Unit sent out a starvation alert, advising beekeepers to check colonies and feed syrup if necessary.
Farmers are used to unpredictable weather, but the cumulative effects of the past five years may prove to be too much for some. As Prof Nicola Cannon of the Royal Agriculture University notes: ‘Climate change is real and affecting us now.’
This feature originally appeared in the print edition of Country Life — here's how you can subscribe to Country Life magazine.
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