Despite the UK experiencing its wettest 18 months on record, the country faces the prospect of water shortages and a ban on the use of hosepipes in summer, British experts have said.
Prof. Hannah Cloke, a hydrologist at the University of Reading, said the record rainfall of the past 18 months would not be enough to experience a prolonged drought. She pointed out that the trend of either a lot of rain or a drought will continue. “We need to realize that our water infrastructure is creaking and requires billions of pounds of investment,”, Prof Cloke said in an interview with “The Guardian”.
The National Infrastructure Commission, which advises the government on these issues, said the UK would need 2.5 to 4 billion liters of extra water capacity per day by 2050 to be able to maintain current service levels . And this means that 30 new reservoirs are needed. The last large dam in the UK was commissioned in 1992. Although several more dams have been proposed since the 1960s, no project has yet been completed.