By Paul Homewood
h/t Joe Public
We are used to dissembling from the likes of the Met Office and Environment Agency.
It comes to something though when the National Audit Office is economical with the truth:
England is in danger of experiencing droughts within 20 years unless action is taken to combat the impact of the climate crisis on water availability, the public spending watchdog says.
The National Audit Office (NAO), in a report published on Wednesday, says some parts of England, especially the south-east, are at risk of running out of water owing to decreased rainfall and a need to cut the amount taken from natural waterways.
Water companies will have to reduce the quantity of water they take out of rivers, lakes and the ground by more than 1bn litres a day, creating huge shortfalls in the coming decades, the NAO warned.
Parliament’s auditor predicted that 4bn litres of additional water supply would be needed each day by 2050 to counter the growing risk of drought from the climate emergency.
The total supply is forecast to drop by 7% by 2045 because of the climate crisis and the need to scale back the amount of water taken out of England’s waterways and soils.
The amount removed will need to be slashed by almost 500m litres a day to ensure sustainable biodiversity can continue, while drier weather is expected to see a 600m litre daily reduction in rainfall.
According to NAO figures, the daily demand for water in England and Wales is 14bn litres, with the equivalent of 3bn litres of that lost through leakage. People on average use 143 litres of water every 24 hours.
Gareth Davies, comptroller and auditor general of the NAO, criticised ministers in his report for failing to lead on the issue of water sustainability. He said personal water consumption had risen every year for the past five years.
First of all, there is no evidence whatsoever that rainfall is declining in southeast England. The very slight trend (red line) is actually upwards since 1862:
The driest year by a long way was 1921, followed by 1973 and 1863. Of the top 20 dry years, only one occurred in the last decade, in 2011. Only four have appear in the list since 1973.
But what about the other claims?
The Comptroller claims that personal water consumption has risen every year for the past five years. But this is not the whole story.
According to DEFRA’s latest figures, public water supply is no higher now than it was in 2008 and before, when the population was lower.
Average personal water consumption is said to be 143 litres a day, but in 2008 it was 146 litres.
The one area where water consumption has significantly increased recently is electricity supply, which now appears to be back to 2001 levels. I must admit, this makes no sense to me at all. I would have assumed the drop after 2001 reflected the switch from coal to gas, which logically should still be a factor.
Either way, we are not running short of water because of some imaginary climate emergency.
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
March 26, 2020 at 01:06PM
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