Lack of Drinking Water in the United Kingdom

Chances are, you just came back home soaked from the local storm. The United Kingdom is blessed with rainy weather. Therefore, it beggars belief! Why should there be any problem in supplying drinking water to the UK population? Is such a statement even legit? Why would anyone spread such a cheap hoax? The answer is: "It is complicated".

What is rarely addressed are investments into development of drinking water reservoirs, the facilities for water treatment and other networks to supply water to the British residents and businesses. Furthermore, the mains supplying drinking water are old, with many unexpected or unknown leaks. This is the main cause: "Money!" In 1989, the water companies took over the water mains and sewerage and this large privatisation project was idealised to solve the financing of the water industry once and for all. Storm overflows are reportedly still used to release sewerage down the stream any time there is rainy weather. This is a precautionary measure, which saves the water treatment plant at not too high ecological cost - more water in the river from the rains should hopefully make the pollution disappear. There is a problem, however, should this measure be used too much, unnecessarily for little to no reason apart from a lack of the investments to modernise the plant. And that is just the sewerage - a problem which can be seen when the overflows suddenly open, the provisions of the drinking water for the population are not visible unless there is no more water on the taps.

The unwillingness to invest into the water supply could be balanced by lowering the demand of the country for this life-giving commodity. So perhaps, that is what somebody would expect to occur. However, the UK population has grown by about 4 million residents every decade since 1991. Therefore, for lack of investment and enlarged demand, the risk of impact on drinking water supply and quality becomes a cause of concern for the UK. It is not problem number one yet, however, water supply is such an essential service that it must be considered a priority for future development. It is better to pay for this bill earlier before the system inevitably collapses, prices of bottled water and other beverages sky-rocket and local people start migrating to places with better water supply.

Private Water Supplies

One option to consider would be going off the grid. It is not a widely accepted solution in the present days. There are still some regions, where properties with private water supply exist, however, that is not a common picture. Drinking Water Inspectorate is an organisation which monitors the situation in the United Kingdom and provides advice on your duties of what to do, should you want to supply your home with your own water. I have researched the rule of thumb for this problem and there are some legal requirements to consider.

You can use a private water supply, however, the burden of testing its quality is then on you. Councils must legally provide you with options on testing of this water, yet it does not necessarily mean that they will not request payment for these services. As an owner of the private water supply you will have to inform your council about this reality. It is illegal to not report your water supply.

Council then may need to do the initial assessments and start regularly checking your water quality. Critical question is who owns the land and how many households are on this land. If it is your land, and there is your own well, borehole, spring or other water source then you may just supply your house on this land with no interference of the local authority (unless you requested so). This should be your initial consideration, otherwise council may charge you for water testing regardless of whether you have a water treatment solution in place or not.

Costs of the private water supply, water tests and water treatment on your own is another dimension to consider. The other side of the coin is that should you have the case for not following the price tag of your local authority for the private supply at your home, you will have to accept responsibility for the water quality at your property. There will be no water company to complain to OfWat about, and also, there is a potential impact on your family's health should your precautions fail.

All other houses

The majority of British residences and especially so in England will not be able to achieve a net benefit in provision of its own drinking water. But could those people lower their mains supply? They probably could, should the prices rise too high or the imminence of drought would cause people to drastically change their normal behaviour. This was proven before, for example there was a multi-year water crisis in South Africa's capital Cape Town. Upon urging its inhabitants, they have actually lowered their water consumption to such levels, they prevented a total exploitation of their main water dam.

In the time of drought, dry weather and high temperature, the Cape Town people made major sacrifices to their comfort. The question is, could such a scenario be prevented? In the United Kingdom, the frequency of precipitation could assist in such endeavors. Water butts could collect water from the roofs, lowering the bill for the garden hose. Furthermore, there is a wastage of grey water in residential houses. The water from sink drains is no longer drinkable, however, some of this water if collected could be pumped to flush the toilets in the house. Otherwise, standard procedure is to flush the toilets with water of drinking quality standard.

Water Literacy

There seems to be a gap between public knowledge and the harsh reality of availability of clean fresh water in the United Kingdom. Water Literacy Programme, is provided by GroundWork East and delivers 8 hours of presentation of this issue, tips how to solve it and group workshops, where you could learn useful tips from the experts in the field. Potentially, you could also share your own ideas and experiences to help this initiative progress.

As it stands, the course remains free. However, GroundWork East announced limits to this offer as it might be only up to two years from the early 2025 or for the first 2000 candidates. Number of my certificate is 098 so there should hopefully still be plenty of opportunities to apply. I have taken this course in February, I can say they do not take the accreditation lightly.

The presentations take over 7 hours and are provided online through Eventbrite. There are some small group exercises between the presentations which you can take benefit from and explore the backgrounds of the other candidates. It was certainly a humbling experience for me, when I could meet so many experts from around the water sector from around the UK.

I am sure that some readers have already undergone the Water Literacy programme. As long as it remains free, it is a no-brainer to consider broadening the view of water saving methods and to motivate yourself and others both at home and in the workplace. Searching the Eventbrite website at the time of writing this article, the Water Literacy Programme appears as sold out. That is worrying since the problems of the overcrowded Great Britain with neglected water mains and reservoirs will not just disappear. Nationwide change of public behaviour may be necessary to avoid major consequences of this state of affairs. Sign up form for the Water Literacy Programme is available. Do not hesitate to sign up, as it will not remain a free course forever! If you fill in your data, you will be approached with the newest available courses as soon as they are announced.