The National Drought Group say that English counties are heading towards an “ecological disaster” in the coming months as water companies are forced to plunder river supplies for drinking water.
The organisation also suggests that England is “one hot dry spell away from drought”, and a hosepipe ban is likely.
Southern Water, Yorkshire Water and Affinity Water cover areas with the largest shortages of water at the moment. Each company plans to take more water from rivers which could be “disastrous” for wildlife in these regions.
Yorkshire Water is perhaps the most interesting of the trio as we try to predict the possibility of a hosepipe ban in 2023.
While Southern Water and Affinity Water cover areas that have seen almost yearly issues with drought over the last 20 years or so, Yorkshire Water hadn’t had a serious problem since its last hosepipe ban in 1995, until last year.
Covering a large area of northern England, this region should really be one of the best stocked with water in the country, compared to the heavily populated and much drier south and south east. This really could be seen as a barometer of how bad the situation is in England.
The fact that we’re talking about this in early March, after a relatively dry autumn and winter doesn’t bode well in considering widespread hosepipe bans again in 2023.