Britain’s biggest water company is pressing ahead with plans to ban hosepipes and sprinklers in August.
Thames Water, which supplies eight million homes in the south of England, issued the warning on Saturday despite rainstorms that have deluged much of Britain in the past few days and a 208kph tornado that smashed a 4,8km trail of destruction through areas of Birmingham.
But despite rainfall of several centimetres in some areas, the downpour has made only a marginal improvement to levels at reservoirs, a spokesperson for Thames Water warned on Saturday.
”It was enough to save us from introducing bans this week, but unless we get substantially more rain in the next couple of weeks, it is very likely that we will have to start introducing some types of restrictions on water use before the end of August.”
However, the Meteorological Office said there is little prospect of much more rain at the start of August.
”This week is looking very dry,” said a spokesperson. ”There may be some showers in some areas, but there are no signs that we will get substantial falls this week. It is too early to say what will happen after that.”
The drought in the south-east is the result of a major reduction in rainfall since November last year. Levels are at only 68% of the national average.
”The last six months have been the driest since 1976,” added the Meteorological Office. As a result, reservoir levels are dangerously low.
The crisis has been exacerbated because much of the piping in the Thames Water area is Victorian, made of brittle cast iron that cracks and breaks easily. In addition, the region rests on clay that shifts easily, causing breakages. As a result, it is estimated that a third of the region’s water is lost before it reaches customers’ taps.
Heat waves
Britain’s water crisis is mirrored by heat waves and droughts afflicting much of Europe. Italy is currently in the grip of a searing heat wave, with level-three alerts in operation — the highest warning, indicating a danger to the general population — in many cities.
Milan recently experienced temperatures of 43 degrees Celsius; Turin, 37; Bologna, 40; and Rome, 42. Visitors to the Italian capital have been bathing in the city’s fountains, while the authorities in Perugia have been giving out bottled water free of charge.
Hospitals have reported large numbers of people suffering heart or respiratory problems — a worrying situation for the authorities, who are desperate to avoid a repeat of the 2003 heat wave, during which an estimated 20 000 people died.
In Sardinia, serious forest fires have devastated acres of forests and put at risk the holiday homes of many tourists and celebrities, including Peter Gabriel of Genesis. At one point, fires were raging at points along 20km of coastline until winds dropped and firefighters were able to contain the flames.
Spain is suffering its worst drought since national figures were first produced in 1947. In some areas reservoirs are down to just 14% of their capacity. And in western France, water levels are at their lowest since the drought of 1976, with restrictions operating in 60 out of 100 departments.
A total of 52 Portuguese municipalities are now receiving water from tankers, as are some villages in northern Spain. A further 22 small Portuguese towns and villages are already having their water cut off for several hours a day.
Dried-out trees and crops have helped spread fires across Spain and Portugal, with crops burnt and at least a dozen people killed.
United States
A brutal heat wave has hit the US, killing dozens of people and frying areas already suffering severe drought. In Arizona, at least 31 people have died so far this month. Temperatures in Phoenix have not dropped below the mid-30s, even at night.
Across the US, new temperature records were set in 200 cities last week. Las Vegas matched its historic high of 47 degrees Celsius set in 1942. Big Bear Lake in California, high up in the normally cool coastal mountains, saw a record 34 degrees Celsius. In Reno, Nevada, 10 days in a row have seen the mercury top 38 degrees Celsius. And Tucson has matched its heat record of 39 days in a row of temperatures above 38 degrees Celsius.
In the Midwest, the heat wave has exacerbated an already devastating drought. Worst hit has been Illinois, most of which was last week declared a disaster area. Other areas of the Midwest have been affected too, including parts of Wisconsin and Missouri. Much of the West is also suffering. In Washington state, reservoirs in the normally wet region have begun to dry up.
India
The death toll from the worst flooding to hit western India in nearly a century has reached more than 900, with hundreds of people still missing. Rain showers began intermittently hitting Mumbai and its outlying areas again on Saturday, though with far less force than those earlier in the week that paralysed India’s financial hub.
As workers began clearing thousands of animal carcasses to prevent the outbreak of diseases, navy divers and other rescuers were searching for survivors. Heavy monsoon rains and landslides battered vast areas of Maharashtra state including its capital, Mumbai, last Tuesday and Wednesday.
Rescue workers continued the grim task of searching for more bodies believed to be trapped under a huge mound of mud and rocks that flattened dozens of shanties on hillsides in Mumbai’s northern suburb of Andheri.
”There are at least four landslide sites in the Konkan region where rescue teams have not yet begun to search,” said Maharashtra relief secretary Krishan Krishna Vatsa. — Guardian Unlimited Â