Drought warning for South Lakeland (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Drought warning for South Lakeland

4:10pm Wednesday 9th June 2010 in News By Gazette newsdesk

THE spectre of a summer of water shortages looms over South Lakeland, despite several days of rain.

Residents are being warned that drought conditions continue to exist, even though the wetter spell is set to last into the weekend.

Both the Environment Agency and water company United Utilities are urging householders to be water wise following the third driest spring in 70 years. However, hosepipe bans are not yet being predicted.

Two of the region’s largest reservoirs, Thirlmere and Haweswater, which supply water throughout the North West, are at their lowest level levels for more than a decade.

The Environment Agency’s rain gauges in the North West show that May had only 27 per cent of the expected rain and April only had 48 per cent.

Although Cumbria experienced some of the worst floods in a century last November, it has since suffered the driest spring spell since 1964, along with the rest of England.

Sources at the agency say the risk of drought in the region is higher than most other places because of the reliance on river and reservoir levels, which have plunged in recent months.

In the past four months, the North West and Wales have received at most 80 per cent, and sometimes little more than 13 per cent, of their long-term average rainfall.

An Environment Agency spokesman said: “With the exception of north west England, the potential risk for drought this summer is low, despite recent dry weather.

“Across most of England and Wales, groundwater levels are healthy and reservoir levels are generally close to normal.

“However, continued below average rainfall will increase pressure on water resources and we continue to monitor the situation closely.”

John Sanders, from United Utilities, said: “It has been the third driest start to the year in more than 70 years. If this dry weather continues United Utilities has strategies in place to maintain essential supplies to customers.

“We are following our normal plans for dry weather conditions, which include making use of our highly integrated supply network to balance supply and demand across the region. We will also make use of reserve groundwater sources to augment supplies if required.

“Water is a precious resource and we urge individuals and businesses to use water responsibly at all times of the year.

“Whatever the weather, it’s always useful to think about using water wisely – but especially during dry weather.”