02/05/2012 Inside Out East Midlands

It's Spring and it's been raining! Yet large parts of the country,

including here, are officially in a drought. Tonight we investigate

what's going on with England's water. Here in the East Midlands

there is a divide. Water restrictions for some but not for

others. And, can our own Government pick up tips from those

experiencing severe droughts overseas? When you go to a country

like ours, and tell them that we are tricky water they everything,

they are surprised. How are under water suppliers are very low. --

water suppliers are very low. -- water suppliers are very low. --

our are under water suppliers. Hello, welcome to a special Inside

Out about the drought. It seems crazy, it rains in spring, as you'd

expect, yet large parts of the country, including here, are a

drought zone after two dry winters. It left Rutland Water three

quarters empty. If we have a third dry winter there could be

devastating consequences particularly for wildlife and

business. Anna Church has been out The day the East Midlands became

officially part of the drought zone it began raining, and raining, and

never seemed to stop. And as the weather presenter I've been getting

some real flack about this drought. It is just ridiculous. I have just

to walk past the weather, you wonder what they're talking about

with all this rain. And she's got a point, the rivers are looking

pretty full, but as I discovered here at Frisby on the Wreake in

Leicestershire looks can be deceiving. On the face of it, the

level looks very healthy. It does. Because of the rain, the river

level has come up. It has come up about one metre. Just a few weeks

ago they were very low, they have been low all winter. The difficulty

is, if it stops raining, and we see a return to the dry weather, the

river levels my drop-off again if very quickly. And that means this

river could then be a full two metres lower than it should be, but

even that doesn't tell the full story. To understand the drought,

and the impact that it will have. We need to think about what's

happening beneath the water. later we'll be peering into to the

depths to discover just how bad things are. But at Rutland Water

despite the rain it's not hard to see they have a problem. This vast

lake is not only a vital reservoir, but also a rich and varied home to

wildlife. And Reserve Manager Tim Appleton is worried that we could

see a repeat of what happened here in 1989. We saw large areas of the

reserve this appear. That was a major problem for us, because it's

so important for wildlife, we need water. What can we do about it?

Well, what they've done is create a network of lagoons to help

safeguard one of the most important wildfowl sanctuaries in Britain.

With this new system, we have a water control, we can release water.

For example, it is a little high in this lagoon, so I can release some

water, as you can see it flows nicely away. At the same time, once

it is going, we can let a little more water into the reservoir.

important is that to the wildlife? Absolutely critical. If we didn't

have the shallower areas, we would not have any birds. Ingenuity may

save the birds and some gardeners like Anne Cornwell, from Sibbertoft

near Market Harborough, are also finding novel ways to get round the

hosepipe ban imposed by Anglian Water. She's discovered a long

forgotten well. We suddenly thought about it last week. We are very

keen gardeners, we have a look, and there is ten feet of water, we are

getting a pump and we can water the garden. John's neighbours in the

next village aren't banned from using their hose pipes because

they're supplied by Severn Trent - who're staying calm. We are not in

a crisis situation at the moment, we have enough suppliers to keep

our customers and suppliers. can that confidence last? I've come

to Waltham on the Wolds - on a water hunt. It around here

somewhere. If we had to that field, we can find it. -- if we head.

is it. This is the borehole. We used it to measure the water level

in the ground. Over half the water used in the East Midlands comes

from natural reserves trapped in rocks beneath our feet. We had to

lower the camera down a good ten meters to find water after a normal

winter rainfall they'd expect it be five meters below the ground.

are just approaching the water level. There are tears. That really

tells a story, doesn't it? It does. We would expected to be much higher

at this time of year. It is a real worry. -- we would expect it.

drought is now even threatening to dry up parts of the holiday

business here on the canal in Leicestershire. British Waterways

is limiting the use of the historic flight of locks at Foxton and

shutting a section of the canal near Leicester. It comes on the

back of one of the driest years on record, it has also been followed

by a very dry winter last year, so our reservoirs a mate all-time low.

-- are at an all-time low. Saddington reservoir, which feeds

water into this stretch of canal, is less than half full. And it's

all very worrying for those who rely on the canal for trade -

particularly those who recall the drought of 1976. This isn't the

first time he'd had to overcome the drought, and dry weather. How bad

we are things here in 1976? water ran out. People were walking

across the bed of the canal. We had no boats through all here. We

sincerely hope that won't happen. The spectre of the drought of '76

was often raised while we were making this filmM but those, like

this Leicestershire farmer, with a long enough memory insisted 1959

was just as bad. We were the driest part of the country. All the old

people can tell you that. 1959 was the driest year about. Attention

please, attention please! This is a warning. Water suppliers are

dangerously low. -- suppliers. Alarming, but this man's not

worried. Barry Lewis has just planted two acres of vines here in

Derbyshire, he believes Brackenfield could become the next

Bordeaux. And the drought? Well that's just perfect. Derbyshire's

officially in the crowds and, that's good news for you? It is.

Once these have vines are established, a warm, dry, sunny

conditions are what we need. Is it similar to champagne in France?

We are now producing some of the best sparkling wines in the world.

Great Eastern vineyards? Exactly. Well, the first wine from Barry's

vineyard won't be available until next year and while we're hoping

the drought doesn't last let's have a toast to one success story.

Cheers Barry, and good luck. Later on we'll have a full weather

forecast from Anna and David Whiteley heads to southern Europe

where they know a thing or two about droughts.

What options do we have it there is a third a dry winter? There are no

shortage of people offering advice, but do we have a strategy in place?

We asked that David Whiteley to investigate, and he started in a

part of the world where they are used to dry conditions, that may

give us a lead on how to do with it. -- deal with it.

This church has been hair in this northern Valley of southern Spain

for over 300 years. I shouldn't be able to be here, this is usually

the bottom of a reservoir. The reason it's so dry is that Spain is

going through its worst drought by over 70 years. Reservoirs are

drying out, and forest fires have been raging. The cabbie's waterline,

look how we should be, Adam Werritty is -- look at the water

line, that is where we should be, and this is verities. Incredible.

Four years ago, the situation got so bad, the taps in Barcelona

almost ran dry. They were forced to shipping suppliers. It -- the

residents have had to completely change their attitude to water.

Quite incredible that something as simple as water had to be

transferred in up to Barcelona in tankers? What was that like?

Luckily never have to be carried through on a massive scale. Before

that, there was a realisation that it was not going to be easy. People

would have to have water rationed. How have you adapted your lifestyle

in the current climb that? change our habits. The children

talk about it a lot at school. They have an easier time adapting to

A through simple measures, such as turning of tubs, having timed

showers and conservation lessons in schools, this is one of the world's

a leading City in saving water. People here use just 107 litres a-

day compared to 150 in the UK. Across the city, they have also

tried using water from showers to flush toilets as well as a cycling

the water in Barcelona's famous fountains.

This isn't the last time Barcelona has faced drought but that

experience four years ago forced everyone to change the way they

think about water on every level. And this place was the answer. They

build this massive plant and it is the largest in Europe. By taking

the water from the Mediterranean, the plant can produce 180 million

litres of fresh water every day but that is still only a 5th of the

city's needs so it is used as a stop-gap when the reservoirs are

low. The system is much more secure

because of this plant but this is not total security. The plant

allows us time to function between rainy periods. If there is a

drought, the plant can produce more. After a building Europe's first

plant 40 years ago, Spain is now a world leader in desalination

technology but it is not a perfect solution. The water produced here

is very expensive and the plant uses enough energy to power a small

town. Unlike Spain which uses most of its water for Agriculture, this

is where we use most of ours, generating electricity in power

stations. Most of the rest, around 40%, is used in homes and gardens.

The trouble is we used to much. As head of water resources, it is

Trevor Bishop's job to try and find a solution. Is turning salt water

into freshwater the answer? We are already got a desalination

plant near London and that will be very important in safeguarding

water it to London. The likelihood of seeing more of those plants in

England is quite high but you don't want to rely on the celebration --

desalination. We are at this picturesque location

in Wiltshire. Water gets moved here. Is that an option, to transfer

water to try parts of the country? Absolutely. The Victorians started

transferring water and it underpins the way we manage water. Manchester

is supplied by water from the Lake District. Moving water around more

in the future is going to be part of the answer but not the whole

answer. The buzzword is connectivity. Are

we talking about a National Grid of water? We did get blacker as in

other parts of the country when we are talking about electricity so

why have restrictions on water in one part of the country and not

enough for? We are not talking about a National

Grid in the same way. Water is heavy expensive to move. If you

move water from the north to the south of England, you can have

drought in the North of England and you don't want to rely on

exclusively moving water a. If desalination has problems and we

shouldn't rely on moving water, what if we have a third dry winter?

Difficult to see but we would be in a bad place. I don't think we have

ever worked out the consequences of the three dry winters in a row. You

would be expecting measures to conserve water that would be quite

dramatic. They would be standpipes in the streets. Water supply is

would be turned off and people would have to take buckets to

standpipes. As far as I'm aware, there is no strategic national plan

to deal with three dry winters in a row. I would like to be proven

wrong and I'd like to think we had a plan but I don't know what form.

I think our plan is based on hope that it rains and hope is a very

poor strategy for dealing with a risky and important Business.

Is there a strategy or not? Caroline Spelman is the environment

so minister. We need a strategy. Drought can

occur any time. We have been planning for this and we are

putting in place measures to deal with that. Things like Temporary

Restrictions on non- essential uses of water in a domestic setting is

something we plan to do in order to conserve water and make sure we

don't have to move to more stringent restrictions later.

Free 0.3 billion litres of water, a quarter of our or water, is lost

every day. Do you think that is acceptable?

We need to encourage the water companies to reduce leakage. The

Government has made that clear. Shouldn't the targets be more

stringent.? Germany only lose 10% of their water.

The targets are a challenge for the industry to meet.

The government is also pushing water companies to do more to

connect suppliers across the country. Caroline Spelman says we

need to think differently about the what are we use.

When you go to a dry country and you explain to them, in a country

like ours, we used drinking water for everything. We wash our clothes

and flush the toilet and wash up with drinking water. Sometimes they

are surprised by that. Can you guarantee that if we get a

third dry winter, we won't have water rationing and standpipes in

these do? And not deluded into thinking I can

tell you how much rain we are going to get and it is too early to tell

yet whether we Barwick -- are going to have the wet winter any -- we

need. It is unlikely we have standpipes this year but if we have

another dry winter, that becomes more likely.

Given the recent heavy rain and fled in the UK, standpipes may

sound extraordinary. As they have discovered in Spain, the world is

changing. Climate change and an expanding population mean demand

for water is set to increase and even if the rains to come this

winter, we will have to start thinking of drinking water as the

precious and scarce natural So what is going on with the

weather and Al water supply? We live in a country where complaining

about the rain is a national pastime. Despite downpours, we have

still got a drug. How serious is his? Meteorologist Nik Miller takes

a trip across England and explores The Lake District is England's

wettest place and the word drought is the last thing that comes to

mind. The reservoirs are filled with millions of litres of water so

with all of this, how come so much of England is in cloud? The Met

Office is now looking into what is behind this change in climate. The

first place they are looking is the jet stream, which brings weather

fronts across the Atlantic. It is placed that bit further north.

Went those weather fronts are pushing into the part of England

that is so short of rainfall at the moment, they are running into high

pressure so not doing the job we want them to do, which is to top up

water levels. At this time of year, we are

competing with nature for water. Everything around us is embarked

with spring growth. He don't get England's green and pleasant land

without it. As everything is turning green, what you don't see

in some parts of the country is even more important and that is

underground. It is the water underground, not reservoirs, that

supply is 75% of the most populated parts of England. 150 miles south-

east of Windermere and I am in a drought territory in the East

Midlands. I'm visiting the National Geological Survey in grafting them

where they are monitoring England's groundwater -- in Nottingham. They

have created an underground map of Britain.

The areas in green Broad Chalke -- I'll talk. It is a really important

aqueduct and that only gets to be charged with rainfall in winter and

we have had two relatively dry winters so we haven't had the

recharge we would expect. Groundwater levels have remained

normal in the north-west but have - - as the move south-east, the drop

in volume by a third. In the last couple of years, only four months

have been significantly wetter than normal, including the a poor just

gone. -- the April. To find out how low our ground stocks are, I joined

Andy Mackenzie and his team to do a survey. You are seeing very dry

walls to the borehole. If there was the charge happening a tall, you

would see Mr. The walls would be glistening

slightly but they are not. Even though it has been pouring

with rain, that rain down here hasn't made a jot of difference?

It hasn't. It would take weeks, probably months for the water to

infiltrate if it did. It will get taken up by the plot on.

That is the surface of the water. 34.4. How does it compare to how it

has been before? This is the 5th or 6th driest we

have seen it in April. It is pretty low. The my last major drought was

in 1976. Now we are saying save water.

People were forced to get their water from standpipes. The Stroud

is different. It has been pouring with rain but we have been told to

expect drought until Christmas. We have had one of of wettest April

swith for Reading but that rain still hasn't reached the aquifers.

-- one of the wettest April stop this is in aquifer operated by

South East Water, supplying 2.1 million customers from pumping

stations like this one. That is the precious water. How low of the

aquifers? We have a say it -- a serious

situation and aquifers are very low. We see the rivers with high levels

and think everything is OK but that is not the case. We are seeing all

time low levels. The pumps are at levels they have never been to

before. That means it is look worse than

1976? I think it is. It is more

widespread across regions and our greatest fear is a third dry winter.

The level of recharge in our groundwater is a third lower than

it should be half did two dry winters. We have come a long way

from the Lake District and it seems we are further from that soaking

rain that has been falling above ground. Down here, it is winter

rain that matters and if we don't get enough next winter, we are all

Let's have a summary of what we can expect over the next few days. It

will come as no surprise that we had record-breaking rainfall

through April. The greatest in the UK since records began and in the

East Midlands, we broke the previous record for recording

nearly three times the average brain. It has led to a number of

local rivers flooding and how can we have flood warnings when we are

at under drought restrictions? Let's take a look at the rain fall

You can see the past two dry winters. You may be looking at your

gardens and thinking, I have plenty of water here. After a two very dry

winters, the ground is so dry that the rain is either sitting on top

or running straight into our rivers and the little rain that makes its

way into the soil is being used up by thirsty plants. Eventually, some

of the rain will make its way to groundwater level but it will take

considerable rain for some time to get us back for where we should be.

How does this compare to 1976? That at the time followed the driest 16

months for 250 years but it would then followed by a year of above

average rainfall. After the April average rainfall. After the April

we have had, can we expect something similar? We will have to

wait and see. Let us look at the weather for the rest of the week.

It will get colder with temperatures coming down into

single figures. We can expect some more rain making its way in tonight.

We have a yellow weather warning in force because it looks heavy across

Leicestershire across the early That covers the southern half of

the UK before it moves north during the in the hours of Thursday and

that is when it becomes heavy. We currently have a lot of cloud which

will increase overnight. The rain arrives to into the southern half

of the region with temperatures dipping to six Celsius. The rain

moves north through the date on Thursday, slowly starting to break

up and it becomes lighter. Temperatures struggling. A high of

12 Celsius. On Friday we can expect a little bit of rain with cold air