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Plans Submitted For New UK Reservoir
The UK could soon see its first new reservoir in decades, if plans for the proposed Havant Thicket Reservoir are approved come spring this year.
Portsmouth Water and Southern Water have been collaborating on the project, with the aim being to ensure water supplies for the south-east of England, the Environment Journal reports.
The reservoir itself – which will be able to hold around 8,700 million litres of water – is due to be built on a 160-hectare area of grassland in Havant, Hampshire, owned by Portsmouth Water. It will be able to supply up to 21 million litres of water each day, as well as helping to protect local chalk streams and provide a new habitat for local wildlife.
Chief executive officer at Portsmouth Water Bob Taylor described the project as a “critical water resources scheme and a unique opportunity for innovative contractors to play a part in safeguarding our region’s water resources and benefitting the natural environment for decades to come”.
Planning applications for the development were submitted late last year, with decisions expected to be forthcoming in the spring. Portsmouth Water is also now looking for expressions of interest from potential suppliers, with the aim being for the reservoir to be operational by 2029.
While you may not think that the UK could experience difficulties with water supply and demand, thanks to all the rainfall it sees each year, the combined impacts of climate change, extreme weather events, urbanisation and globalisation will all contribute towards water shortages in as little as ten years’ time.
In the east of England, for example, it’s expected that water shortages of up to 1.6 billion litres a day will be seen by the 2050s. This means that if current water usage practices do not change in the near future, the region will need to find sufficient water to supply up to six million people, a recent report by Water Resource East suggested.
On a typical day, the region uses 2,311 million litres of water, 85 per cent of which is for public water supply, with the rest being used for spray irrigation, manufacturing and power generation.
If this makes for concerning reading, know that as a business there is actually a lot you can do to reduce your reliance on freshwater supplies and prioritise water efficiency, safeguarding resources for future generations.
Reducing water consumption will become increasingly important as time goes on and the first step towards achieving this is knowing what your individual water footprint is, so you can see how and where your business uses water.
Once you’re armed with this information, you can then think about what water-saving strategies you want to employ, whether it’s rainwater harvesting, water leak detection, install a water meter, bill validation… there’s a lot that can be done to help reduce your water usage. If you’d like to find out more, get in touch with H2o Building Services today.