ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 203
driest, sunniest and warmest summer in the 20th century. Rainfall was way below average. Again
in 2012, England and Wales experienced one of the 10 worst droughts of the last 100 years, according to the Met Office. According to the EEA (European Environment Agency), the UK is amongst
the 9 countries considered as water stressed, meaning that 46% of the region’s population lives in
places which are water-stressed. (EEA 2014).
From the figure below (Fig.10), it is evident that water scarcity in the UK is geographically distributed; the more serious case is in the south east, while the north and west suffer less than the other
areas. In a publication by Environment Agency (Water Stressed Qualification 2013) the regulation
suggested that areas classified as serious water stressed have to evaluate metering and all other
options available when preparing water resource management plans. Climate change has affected the UK water case badly, where rainfall is abundant in the summer, when most of that will
evaporate, and less occurring in winter, when the aquifers should be topped up. In figure below
(Fig.9), it can be seen how the rainfall has changed relative to monthly average over the past few
years.
Figure 9: Monthly rainfall levels, southern England, Dec 09 - Jan 14 (Met Office 2014)
The problem with drought is not a minor one especially that the weather has become unpredictable, 2012 was dry, then 2014 witnessed abundant rainfall, and with all the mitigations and water
metering, hosepipe banning, the worst-case scenario, according to the EA, is that total water demand in England and Wales could increase 35% by the 2050s. Water metering has already taken
effect, all homes built since 1990 have water meters, and in 2008 1/3 of houses and apartments in
England and Wales are also fitted with water meters. Water UK suggests that this estimate will rise
in water stressed regions to 80% by 2020. Government is currently encouraging water companies
to build reservoirs, which is a quite huge investment, and it is hard to predict how things will
change and whether they will able to use them.
A closer look at sustainability practices: lessons from the UK
201