The government accelerates new tanks to guarantee water supply

England could face drinking water shortages in a decade unless new tanks are built, said a minister.

The warning comes as the government has announced that it accelerates the planning process for two reservoir projects.

But the abolition of local objections can be unpopular and the tanks could still be more than a decade of the opening.

Household water consumption may also need to fall to guarantee supplies in the middle of increasing temperatures and an increasing population, prevent scientists.

The announcement means that the final decisions concerning the FENS reservoir proposed in Cambridgeshire and the Lincolnshire reservoir will be taken by the Environment Secretary Steve Reed, rather than at local level.

This change is equivalent to “reducing administrative formalities to speed up the planning process”, according to the Minister of Water, Emma Hardy.

Addressing BBC Breakfast, she said: “It is really important because if we do not build the tanks, we will miss the drinking water that we need by mid-year 2030.”

The Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire tanks are currently selected for the completion in 2036 and 2040 respectively.

They “provide more resilience to future droughts in a part of the country already dry and where there is a strong demand for water,” said Dr. Glenn Watts, director of water sciences in the United Kingdom Center for Ecology & Hydrology.

Reservoirs can help protect against drought impacts by perceiving excess precipitation during wet periods.

With climate change likely to be warmer and drier, the chances of drought could increase in the decades to come, says the Met Office.

These preparations have been highlighted by the exceptionally dry spring of this year.

The northwest of England is officially in the drought, according to the Environment Agency, which says that it observes the situation closely in other regions.

The additional demand for new houses, data centers and other sectors could lead to supply more, but no major reservoir has been completed in England since 1992, shortly after the privatization of the water sector.

Last year, government and waters companies announced proposals to build nine new tanks by 2050.

Together, they have the potential to provide 670 million liters of additional water per day, they say.

This is added to the Hamp Hampshire reservoir project, which is already underway and should be completed by 2031.

The government also claims that it intends to adopt legislation to automatically make the other seven reservoirs proposed “nationally”, so that the final decision would be taken by the national government.

“Tank projects are very complex infrastructure projects that are slow to advance, and therefore anything that can be done to rationalize this process can be a positive thing,” said David Porter, vice-president of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).

The water industry also praised the announcement.

“It is absolutely essential that we are building this tanks now,” David Henderson, managing director of Water UK, told BBC News.

“If we do not build them now, we are waiting for another 10 years, it will cost even more, so we can no longer continue to kick at the bottom of the road.”

But the construction of tanks does not come at a lower cost, even with accelerated planning processes. It could ultimately filter people’s bills.

It doesn’t come quickly either. No new major reservoir should be completed this decade.

Some experts point out that tanks are not a miracle solution and warn that managing the way we use water must have more priority in a global warming.

“We need a complete overhaul of how we use water, to plug leaks, reduce waste and store water where it falls in the rain,” said Professor Hannah Cloke of Reading University.

“It would be preferable to make more difficult decisions concerning the regulation of the new building, as well as the modernization of older houses and companies, cutting waste and recycling water where it is used, rather than pumping water over huge distances,” she added.

And like any major project, new tanks could prove unpopular to local communities, in particular those whose houses and agricultural land are authorized to make room for them.

“The government’s decision to accelerate the” important infrastructure “route is very bad in my opinion and will make the audience very angry,” said Dr. Kevin Grecksch of the University of Oxford.

But David Porter de Ice underlined the need to make decisions “for the greater good”.

“Now, that doesn’t mean that we should lead to Roughshod on the views of the local population, and that does not mean that each project is justifiable,” he said.

“But if the decision -maker is convinced that in balance, it is the right thing to do, you must find a means by the objection in order to deliver these projects.”

In response to the government’s announcement, Victoria Atkins, secretary of the environment, blamed agricultural and immigration policies of the Labor Party for pressures on water supply.

“The last conservative government has left a robust and consistent plan to protect food security and reduce the net migration of more than half. The workforce has chosen to abandon these plans and, in doing so, it has made control of both our rural community and our borders,” she said.

Additional report by Justin Rowlatt, Esme Stallard and Miho Tanaka; Map of Christine Jeavans