Businesses Face Water Bans as the Drought Persists
Three water companies have applied to Defra for powers to stop non-essential use in parts of their regions, which would bar commercial car washes and prevent golf clubs and private schools irrigating playing fields from the mains. Eleven areas of England remain in drought and reservoirs stand at 54%.
The asymmetry is what has brought this to a head. Households have been under hosepipe restrictions for three months while businesses have been exempt, and a power hose can use twenty-five litres a minute. Mark Owen of the Angling Trust puts the objection plainly: “It makes little sense to ban people from washing cars at home while commercial car washes can continue operating.” The underlying figures are worse than the headline. Reservoir stocks are a fifth below normal for the time of year, nineteen reservoirs or groups are under half full and eight are described as exceptionally low, up from five in August. Seven areas have exceptionally low river flows, including the Derwent, the Yare, the Ely Ouse, the Tone and the Hampshire Avon catchments. September brought only 65% of typical rainfall and Yorkshire entered drought on 9 October. The Met Office’s assessment is the sobering part: recovery needs above-average rain sustained over about seven months, which is a winter and a spring, not a wet fortnight. Defra has not yet responded to the applications.