Severe drought declared in parts of southern England
Baku, October 15, AZERTAC
Severe drought has been declared across parts of southern England after months of low rainfall, BBC reported.
Parts of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, East Sussex and West Sussex are affected by the announcement from the Environment Agency, which followed a review of water resources and drought conditions across England by the National Drought Group.
Water supplies have been significantly impacted by high demand following the hottest summer on record.
The government said customer supplies would be uninterrupted and declaring severe drought "ensures proactive steps are taken to safeguard water before any disruption occurs".
The government's plans include:
Ministers instructing water companies to conduct daily monitoring of reservoir and river levels and tougher water quality monitoring
The Environment Agency to increase compliance checks on businesses that withdraw water from natural sources to ensure they are only taking permitted quantities of water
The government said the change to severe drought status had been prompted by specific concerns for two major reservoirs, Ardingly in West Sussex and Wimbleball in Somerset.
The latest figures for Wimbleball Reservoir on Exmoor show it is at 14.9% capacity, while Ardingly is 19.4% full. Other major reservoirs are also low, including Roadford in Devon at 36.8%, Burrator at 33.6%, Colliford in Cornwall at 35% and Stithians at 21.9%.
The Environment Agency has classed Colliford and Wimbleball as having exceptionally low levels.
Wimbleball serves about 300,000 properties across east Devon, north Devon, Somerset, west Dorset and West Somerset. Ardingly Reservoir serves 280,000 customers across East and West Sussex.
The Environment Agency said it expected reservoir storage to be about 75% at this time of the year.
In its latest drought report it said reservoir storage had continued to fall at most reservoirs in England.
The agency has granted South East Water and South West Water drought orders giving them permission to cut the amount of water sent from reservoirs to rivers by millions of litres per day.
Southern Water also applied for an order to restrict usage in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
The agency also has concerns about several smaller reservoirs in Devon and Cornwall, including Stithians near Falmouth.
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