Fighting drought
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 18 August 2022
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Despite recent heavy rainfall, much of England is experiencing drought conditions. Both rivers and reservoirs are running low, and the water companies have told millions to stop using their hosepipes.
Scientists warn that the current difficulties are only a glimpse of the much tougher challenges the UK will face in the future because of climate change. They estimate that there's a one-in-four chance of a drought which is so severe that drinking water has to be restricted.
Joining David Aaronovitch in The Briefing Room are: Sir John Armitt, Chairman of the UK's National Infrastructure Commission Dr Heather Smith, Senior Lecturer in Water Governance at Cranfield University Jean Spencer, Director of The Water Industry Forum Sir Dieter Helm, Professor of Economic Policy at Oxford University
Producers: Bob Howard, Kirsteen Knight and Simon Watts. Editor: Richard Vadon. Studio Manager: Graham Puddifoot. Production co-ordinators: Siobhan Reed & Helena Warwick-Cross
PHOTO CREDIT: A reservoir on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall in August 2022 (Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.4 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David Oronovich. |
| 0:09.3 | The briefing room is the mind space in the metaverse, |
| 0:11.9 | where a big subject becomes clear in less than half an hour |
| 0:14.7 | with the assistance of the top experts. |
| 0:17.7 | This week, drought and floods. |
| 0:19.9 | What's the problem with water in Britain? |
| 0:24.7 | It might be hard to imagine after the heavy rain this week, but much of England is experiencing |
| 0:30.3 | drought conditions. We dealt with the problem of sewage in rivers recently on the programme, |
| 0:35.3 | but right now both rivers and reservoirs are running |
| 0:38.2 | low, and the water companies have told millions to stop using their hose pipes. Of course, |
| 0:44.1 | we'll cope. The really bad news, though, is that this is a warm glimpse of a hot future. |
| 0:50.6 | Scientists say Britain faces a much higher risk of drought in the decades ahead because of climate change. |
| 0:56.7 | Are we ready for it? |
| 0:58.2 | And if not, what needs to be done? |
| 1:00.8 | Step into the briefing room and together we'll find out. |
| 1:05.8 | Joining me first in the briefing room is Sir John Armit, the chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission. |
| 1:11.5 | In 2018, the Commission reported on England's state of preparedness for a drier future. |
| 1:17.7 | Sir John Armit, what did the report conclude about the risk of drought in the next few years? |
| 1:23.4 | It concluded that risk of a serious drought was a one in four chance between now and 2050, and the risk of an extreme drought was one in 17. |
| 1:33.6 | It decided and it recommended that in order to deal with that, we ought to make sure we've got additional capacity in the system of somewhere between three and four million liters a day. |
| 1:45.2 | So basically we've talked about four million litres a day extra needed by 2050. |
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