Water companies urge gardeners to “value water”
Water companies are warning gardeners to hold back on using sprinklers as UK water usage leapt by up to 40 per cent above normal levels in spring to early summer. The exceptionally hot and dry weather coincided with lockdown, when at least half the nation was actively gardening and watering more.
The Met Office has been forecasting a warmer-than-average summer for 2020. Professor Liz Bentley of the Royal Meteorological Society says long-term trends show high pressure prevailing – bringing hot, dry weather. “There is a consistent weather pattern of too much rain or too little rain,” she tells us. “It’s about trying to capture rainfall when it comes, so you can use it when there is a shortage. You’ve probably got one or two water butts around, but you may need to expand that.”
Just a few months ago the UK was splashing through its fifth wettest winter and wettestever February on record, leaving reservoirs brimming over. But by summer, in typically damp West Cumbria, some areas saw just 20 per cent of expected rainfall, leading United Utilities to pump extra supplies into the mains system as demand spiked. Northern Ireland Water has warned that a hosepipe ban can’t be ruled out after water usage there jumped by more than 15 per cent and water levels in the Spelga Reservoir, Co. Down, fell by 3m.
“Small bursts of rain are not enough to bring reservoir levels up,” says Des Nevin of NI Water. “The impact of extreme weather is not something we can leave to future discussions – it’s happening now.”
The lack of rain could make gardening more expensive, too. Watering with a hose for just one hour three times a week adds about £20 a month to a typical metered water bill – doubling the average monthly spend on gardening by UK gardeners. But Rae Stewart of industry body, Water UK, says at 1,000 litres per hour that’s far more water than your garden needs anyway. “That’s a lot of wasted water there,” he says. “Every litre wasted and poured away is another litre we have to take out of the environment.”
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Small bursts of rain are not enough