:00:12. > :00:14.It has been the wettest April in the years. But swathes of England
:00:14. > :00:17.have been told we're officially in a drought and things could get much
:00:17. > :00:20.worse. Why? Tonight, what's going on with England's water?
:00:20. > :00:29.As the rest of the country starts to run dry, will our supplies be
:00:29. > :00:34.called to the rescue? I would reassure customers that
:00:35. > :00:38.whatever happens, there supplies will be guaranteed and safeguarded.
:00:38. > :00:42.And the government minister tells us she cannot rule out standpipes
:00:42. > :00:49.on England's streets. It is unlikely that we would have them
:00:49. > :00:51.this year but if we have another try winter it becomes more likely.
:00:51. > :00:55.And I'm in Spain where they're going through their worst drought
:00:55. > :00:58.in 70 years. What lessons can we learn?
:00:58. > :01:03.And if you are hoping for more rain, we'll find out what's in store back
:01:03. > :01:05.home. I'll have the very latest on the
:01:05. > :01:15.weather in the North East and Cumbria and a reminder of what a
:01:15. > :01:32.
:01:32. > :01:36.northern drought looked like. You do not need me to tell you how
:01:36. > :01:40.much rain we have had of late. But much of England is still officially
:01:41. > :01:46.in a drought. Many areas have hosepipe bans and they're warnings
:01:46. > :01:51.about what could happen next if we do not get more rain. Well here in
:01:51. > :01:55.the north-east and Cumbria we seem to have escaped but discussions are
:01:55. > :02:01.already under way about how are precious national resource could be
:02:01. > :02:08.heading south. A 1995, the last time the North helped other parts
:02:08. > :02:14.of the country cope with Stroud. Drastic measures for drastic times.
:02:14. > :02:20.1000 tankers a-day transporting water to Yorkshire. If the drought
:02:20. > :02:24.in the south gets worse the same may have to happen again. Envious
:02:24. > :02:31.glances have been cast at our reservoirs and one in particular is
:02:31. > :02:36.attracting attention. Behind this damn I 200 billion
:02:36. > :02:43.metres of some of England's purist and cleanest water. This is Kielder
:02:43. > :02:47.Water, the biggest man-made lake in Europe.
:02:47. > :02:53.Once seen as an expensive white elephant, it could now help to
:02:53. > :02:59.solve the water problems further south.
:02:59. > :03:04.Above me is Kielder Water, 170 ft deep. All but water cannot of
:03:04. > :03:09.course go down but it could also be piped into the rivers. That could
:03:09. > :03:16.be part of a network to supply a drought-stricken parts of England.
:03:16. > :03:20.Our water supplies are owned by Northumbria Water, part of a Hong
:03:20. > :03:26.Kong-based company. If it sold our water to the rest of the country,
:03:26. > :03:29.who would benefit? It is an opportunity for water companies to
:03:29. > :03:39.make some money so long as they come plants strategically for the
:03:39. > :03:39.
:03:39. > :03:45.future. -- so long as they can plan. The government appears to back that
:03:45. > :03:50.strategy. Yorkshire Water can already buy from Northumberland and
:03:50. > :03:53.other water companies are being encouraged to a white paper. We
:03:53. > :04:00.want to see more incentives for water companies to block transfer
:04:00. > :04:05.water. Average water bills in the North East are �161, the second
:04:05. > :04:11.lowest in England and Wales. Could they come down? I do not think the
:04:11. > :04:16.bills will be coming down. The water bill, and the structure of
:04:16. > :04:20.the industry is based on five-year periods. I think for Emergency
:04:20. > :04:24.situations if water was to be transferred then that would be a
:04:24. > :04:30.question for government and for regulators and water companies to
:04:30. > :04:36.talk about. Opinion is divided on whether our water should be shared.
:04:36. > :04:43.I would not be happy. Hull should be for all round this area. I feel
:04:43. > :04:50.all right about that. It is a good thing for us. A we should help each
:04:51. > :04:56.other. But in the an emergency, all bets
:04:56. > :05:04.would be off. In 1995, the 35 million litres of water per day
:05:04. > :05:08.tanker to Yorkshire involved no profit. If there is a crisis it
:05:08. > :05:16.could happen again but on a much larger scale. Supplies could be
:05:16. > :05:20.stretched. If it comes to the West and there is near disaster in the
:05:20. > :05:26.south then there is no reason for them not to come and just take the
:05:26. > :05:31.water. That is the only circumstance when Kielder Water it
:05:31. > :05:36.would come under pressure. I do not think people in the North can just
:05:36. > :05:40.say it belongs to us and you cannot have it. The more you take out of
:05:40. > :05:45.the reservoir, the greater the effect. But I am would reassure
:05:45. > :05:50.customers certainly in the North East, up whatever happened at
:05:50. > :05:54.Kielder Water, at their supplies would be guaranteed.
:05:54. > :06:00.But every rain cloud may have a silver lining. A chronic sudden
:06:00. > :06:05.drought could herald a boon for Nordin agriculture.
:06:05. > :06:09.As the South suffers their crops will die off and failed. We have
:06:09. > :06:14.ideal growing conditions in the North and the rain that does fall
:06:14. > :06:18.is used by the crops. So there could be bumper prices in the
:06:18. > :06:24.future for crops and animals. there any chance of us ever having
:06:24. > :06:29.a drought in the North? I cannot see any situation where you would
:06:29. > :06:36.have a drought in the north. We have an abundance supply of water.
:06:36. > :06:42.But this comes at a price for some farmers. This farm in
:06:42. > :06:47.Northumberland, in a good year the farmer can raise 1400 lambs.
:06:47. > :06:51.have just had a very cool and wet April on the ground is now
:06:51. > :06:58.saturated. The grass is not really growing, the sheep are under
:06:58. > :07:02.pressure producing milk for the Lambs. We want a warmer and drier
:07:02. > :07:12.spells. Jimmy has been keeping records of the rainfall here for 14
:07:12. > :07:19.years. Police me, it is not getting drier here. -- believe me. It has
:07:19. > :07:23.been the sole wet that some plans have actually drowned in the fields.
:07:23. > :07:28.But it is the extremes, a very wet spell and a very dry spell, no
:07:28. > :07:35.pattern to it at all. Despite their the rain, there are
:07:35. > :07:44.areas suffering from very dry conditions, especially in summer.
:07:44. > :07:49.Harbottle, in 2007. Eight square kilometres of tinder-dry Forest and
:07:49. > :07:53.more land were destroyed. The fire crews were hampered by a limited
:07:53. > :08:03.access to water. Special fire pons like this one are now being built
:08:03. > :08:04.to collect rainwater. The fire Pond allows us to have a significant
:08:04. > :08:10.water resource near to where firefighters might be able to get
:08:10. > :08:16.to it easily and we will be able to use that water in the event of wild
:08:16. > :08:21.fires in the hills. Even if our reservoirs are full to
:08:21. > :08:24.the brim for most of the year, water is still as scarce and a
:08:24. > :08:29.precious resource. So have people here got the message about
:08:29. > :08:33.conservation? I have always been careful with it. Because one of
:08:33. > :08:43.these days we will find ourselves very short of it, you can see it
:08:43. > :08:44.
:08:44. > :08:49.coming. We do not flash because it saves water. At this farming
:08:49. > :08:55.Newcastle they go one better than not flushing. They flush with the
:08:55. > :09:02.rain water, collected from the rooftops. It is a little bit brown
:09:03. > :09:08.and you would not want to drink it but it is filtered. We seek to be
:09:08. > :09:12.as environmentally friendly as possible.
:09:12. > :09:19.Environmentalists like this family in Darlington are well aware of the
:09:19. > :09:22.need to save water. We opted to have a water meter
:09:22. > :09:30.installed when we moved in. It meant that we could reap the
:09:30. > :09:38.benefits financially of using less water. If Dad is going to get a cup
:09:38. > :09:45.of coffee, he just measures up one Cup. Then we have more water in the
:09:45. > :09:50.reservoirs. You can get a dishwasher now that can measure how
:09:50. > :09:58.dirty the water is when it comes out and it will re-use that water
:09:58. > :10:07.if it can. We're renovating our house with a dual flush system. You
:10:07. > :10:11.have the option of a full flush or half flush.
:10:11. > :10:15.Even though we are not suffering drought conditions, we are still
:10:15. > :10:19.affected by shortages and changing weather patterns. We do need to
:10:19. > :10:24.save water. The jury is out on whether the North will eventually
:10:24. > :10:34.be seen as a giant was a Wyeth to provide water to the rest of the
:10:34. > :10:36.
:10:36. > :10:43.country. -- giant reservoir. So what's going on with our
:10:43. > :10:45.national water supply? Just how real is the threat of drought?
:10:45. > :10:49.We asked meteorologist Nick Miller to take a trip through England,
:10:49. > :10:59.from the wettest to the driest areas. You might not be surprised
:10:59. > :11:13.
:11:13. > :11:18.to learn his journey starts in the The latest trick is England's
:11:18. > :11:24.wettest place and the word trout is the last thing that comes to mind,
:11:24. > :11:28.it looking below. The reservoirs have billions of litres of water.
:11:28. > :11:32.So with all of this and on an island where it has not stopped
:11:32. > :11:36.raining for the past few weeks, how can much of England B in drought?
:11:36. > :11:41.The Met Office is looking into what is behind this apparent change in
:11:41. > :11:46.our climate. The first phase they're looking is the jet stream
:11:46. > :11:50.that carries rain bearing weather friends across the Atlantic. It has
:11:50. > :11:55.tended to be displaced further north and by that time the weather
:11:55. > :12:05.in France are pushing south, their running into a higher pressure. So
:12:05. > :12:05.
:12:05. > :12:09.they're not doing the job that we At this time of year, we are
:12:09. > :12:14.competing with nature for water, everything embarking on spring
:12:14. > :12:18.growth. You do not get England court -- you do not get England's
:12:18. > :12:23.green and pleasant land without it. Whilst everything turns green and
:12:23. > :12:29.rivers fill up, in some parts of the country, you do not see
:12:29. > :12:35.underground. And it is the water underground, not reservoirs, that
:12:35. > :12:40.provide 75% of the most populous parts of England. 150 miles South
:12:40. > :12:43.East of Windermere, I am in drought territory, visiting the National
:12:43. > :12:46.Geological Survey in Nottingham where they are constantly
:12:46. > :12:52.monitoring the level of ground water. Using data from thousands of
:12:52. > :12:58.boreholes, they have created an underground map of Britain. If you
:12:58. > :13:03.look at the map, the areas in green, up into Yorkshire, down the South
:13:03. > :13:09.East, it is a really important at offer, which is only recharged by
:13:09. > :13:14.rainfall in the winter. -- at offer. We have had two relatively dry
:13:14. > :13:19.winters, so we have not had the recharge we were to expect. Ground
:13:19. > :13:24.water levels have remained level in the North West, but dropping by a
:13:24. > :13:28.third in the South West -- South East. Only four months have been
:13:28. > :13:34.wetter than normal. That includes the people just gone, which
:13:34. > :13:40.included record rainfall. To find out how low ground water stocks are,
:13:40. > :13:44.I joined Andy Mackenzie and his team doing a survey. This is the
:13:44. > :13:49.South Downs. It is one of the driest parts of England and below
:13:49. > :13:55.me is the most important source of groundwater, the chalk aquifer, and
:13:55. > :13:59.we will find out today just how far we have to go down to find water.
:13:59. > :14:04.The chalk aquifer is effectively a giant pressurised sponge full of
:14:04. > :14:10.water, which the Victorians tap with Wells like one at Chilgrove.
:14:10. > :14:19.The water would normally be 20 metres below ground level. --
:14:19. > :14:24.Victorians tapped ground wells. How looking promising. We're only about
:14:24. > :14:30.30 metres below where we started. Before long, we pass the point
:14:30. > :14:37.where we would normally find water and the camera keeps descending.
:14:37. > :14:42.You are seeing really dry walls. Normally, we would see moisture and
:14:42. > :14:48.the walls are listening, which are not. So even though it has been
:14:48. > :14:53.pouring with rain, that rain down here has not make a difference?
:14:53. > :14:58.it has not, it will take weeks or months for what are to infiltrate.
:14:58. > :15:05.It is not going to, it will be taken up by plants. We are just
:15:05. > :15:11.coming up to 34.4, very close. That is the surface of the water.
:15:11. > :15:17.much does it compare with how low it has been? This is the 5th or 6th
:15:17. > :15:22.driest we have seen. It is pretty low. The last major drought was in
:15:22. > :15:27.1976 when one dry winter was followed by at a hot summer. We are
:15:27. > :15:33.asking to save water. People were forced to queue in the streets to
:15:33. > :15:37.get water from standpipes. This drought is different, it is not hot
:15:37. > :15:41.and sunny, but pouring with rain, yet we are told we could be in
:15:41. > :15:45.drought and a full Christmas. No one says all this rain is not
:15:45. > :15:49.making a difference. We have had the wettest April, with some
:15:49. > :15:57.flooding, but the rain has not reached were many get the water
:15:57. > :16:03.from, such as this one. This is supplying 2.1 million customers
:16:03. > :16:11.from pumping stations like this one. Down there, that is the precious
:16:11. > :16:17.water. How low? We are in a serious situation. Underground aquifers a
:16:17. > :16:22.very low. We have rivers flowing at high levels and think everything is
:16:23. > :16:28.OK, but that is not the case. We are seen all-time low levels and
:16:28. > :16:35.the greatest fear is a third drier winter. The level of recharge in
:16:35. > :16:41.ground water is a third more than it should be. -- Are For lower
:16:41. > :16:47.after three dry winters. -- a third lower.
:16:47. > :16:57.Down here, it is winter rain that matters. If we do not get enough
:16:57. > :16:59.
:16:59. > :17:03.next winter, we are all heading into the unknown. We have already
:17:03. > :17:08.heard how her mac reservoirs may be used as emergency supplies, but
:17:08. > :17:12.what are the other options if there is a third dry winter and do we
:17:12. > :17:18.have a national strategy for something as basic as a reliable
:17:19. > :17:22.clear -- as a reliable, clean water supply? David Whiteley investigated,
:17:22. > :17:30.beginning in part of the world that is learning how to live with dry
:17:30. > :17:37.weather conditions. This church has stood here in this valley in
:17:37. > :17:42.northern Spain for more than 500 years. But I should not be able to
:17:42. > :17:47.be here. Because this is the bottom of a reservoir and that spire is
:17:47. > :17:53.usually submerged under thousands of tons of water. The reason it is
:17:53. > :17:57.so dry it is Spain is going through its worst drought for 70 years,
:17:57. > :18:02.reservoirs drying out and forest fires raging. Look at the water
:18:02. > :18:08.line in this reservoir. That is how high it should be. Just below those
:18:08. > :18:11.trees is where the water should be. Incredible! Can Spain give us a
:18:11. > :18:16.glimpse into an uncomfortable few picture?
:18:16. > :18:20.Four years ago, the situation was so bad, the water taps in Barcelona
:18:20. > :18:28.almost ran dry and the city was forced to ship in supplies from
:18:28. > :18:33.France. It is 3.5 -- its 3.5 million residents, like this family,
:18:33. > :18:39.had to change their attitude towards water. I find it incredible
:18:39. > :18:44.that something as simple of -- simple as water had to be
:18:44. > :18:50.transported into Barcelona. What was that like? It was a first as
:18:50. > :18:57.far as I know. Luckily it was not on a massive scale for a long time.
:18:57. > :19:04.Our view that to July style where water is not in abundance? We were
:19:04. > :19:09.conscious of how you precious water is. The children talked a lot about
:19:09. > :19:15.it in school. They had an easier time adapting to turning the tap
:19:15. > :19:19.off all the time. Through simple measures, such as turning off taps,
:19:19. > :19:24.having timed showers and teaching water conservation in schools,
:19:24. > :19:32.Barcelona is well on its way to becoming one of the world's leading
:19:32. > :19:36.cities in saving water. People are you use just 107 metres every day,
:19:36. > :19:42.compared to 150 in the UK. Across the city, they have also tried
:19:42. > :19:45.using water from showers to flush toilets as well as recycling water
:19:45. > :19:49.in the famous fountains. This is not the first and it will not be
:19:49. > :19:54.the last time Barcelona has faced drought. But that experience four
:19:55. > :19:59.years ago forced everyone to change the way VF think about water on
:19:59. > :20:03.every level. -- the way people thought about water. And this was
:20:03. > :20:11.the answer, this massive desalination plant, the largest in
:20:11. > :20:16.Europe. By taking sea water from the Mediterranean, it can produce
:20:16. > :20:23.180 million litres of fresh water every day. That is still only 20%
:20:23. > :20:27.of the city's needs, so it is a stop gap when reservoirs are low.
:20:27. > :20:32.TRANSLATION: The system is much more secure because of this plant,
:20:33. > :20:36.but this is not total security. The plant allows us time to function
:20:36. > :20:44.between rainy periods. If there is a drought, the plant can produce
:20:44. > :20:48.more. After building Europe's first desalination plant 40 years ago,
:20:48. > :20:52.Spain is now or world leader in the technology. But it is not a perfect
:20:52. > :21:00.solution. The water produced is very expensive and the Barcelona
:21:00. > :21:05.plant uses enough energy to power a small town. Unlike Spain, which
:21:05. > :21:10.uses most of its water for Agriculture, we use most of ours
:21:10. > :21:14.for generating electricity. Most of the rest, around 40%, is used in
:21:14. > :21:18.homes and gardens, but we used to much, more than many other
:21:18. > :21:25.developed countries. As head of water resources at the Environment
:21:25. > :21:28.Agency, it is Trevor Bishop's job to find a solution. Is turning salt
:21:28. > :21:31.water into freshwater the answer? We already have one big
:21:31. > :21:36.desalination plant near London which will be really important for
:21:36. > :21:39.safeguarding supplies for London. The idea of seeing more
:21:39. > :21:47.desalination plants in England is quite high. But you do not want to
:21:47. > :21:54.rely on desalination, which is very expenses, producing a lot of carbon.
:21:54. > :22:00.-- very expensive. Looking at these picturesque scenes, could the idea
:22:00. > :22:03.be to transfer water to drier parts of the country? Absolutely. The
:22:03. > :22:07.Victorian start to transpiring won it -- started transferring water
:22:07. > :22:11.and that underpins much of the way we manage water resources.
:22:11. > :22:14.Manchester is supplied by water from the Lake District. Greater
:22:14. > :22:19.connectivity within the country will be part of that answer, but
:22:19. > :22:24.not a whole answer. The buzz word this connectivity. Could we talk
:22:24. > :22:29.about a National Grid for water? If one places generating electricity,
:22:29. > :22:32.you do not get blackouts and one part of the country. Why have
:22:32. > :22:36.restrictions in one part of the country and not the other? We are
:22:36. > :22:40.not talking about a National Grid and the same way as gas and
:22:40. > :22:47.electricity. Water is heavy and expensive to move. But if you had a
:22:47. > :22:52.big name of water from the north to the south. You do not want to rely
:22:52. > :22:57.on moving water around exclusively. So if desalination has problems,
:22:57. > :23:02.and we should not rely on moving water, what will happen if we have
:23:02. > :23:06.a third dry winter? It is difficult to see, but we would be in a bad
:23:06. > :23:10.place. We have never really worked out the consequences of three dry
:23:10. > :23:15.winters in a row, as we have never had that, but you would expect
:23:15. > :23:20.measures to conserve water to be quite dramatic. There would be
:23:20. > :23:23.standpipes on streets, water supplies cut off, people taking
:23:23. > :23:29.buckets down to standpipes. We do not know the numbers involved, but
:23:29. > :23:32.it could easily be tens of thousands. As far as I am aware,
:23:32. > :23:37.there is no strategic national plan to deal with three dry winters in a
:23:37. > :23:42.row. I would like to be proven wrong and think we had a plan, but
:23:43. > :23:46.I do not know of one. I think our plan is based on hope that it rains.
:23:46. > :23:51.And hope is a very poor strategy for dealing with a risky and
:23:51. > :23:56.important business. So is there a strategy or not? Caroline Spelman
:23:56. > :24:01.is the Environment Secretary. because we need to have contingency
:24:01. > :24:05.plans. Drought is a natural phenomenon that can occur at any
:24:05. > :24:09.time. We have seen this coming and had planned on it. We are putting
:24:09. > :24:15.in place measures to deal with that, such as temporary restrictions on
:24:15. > :24:18.non-essential uses of water in a domestic setting is something that
:24:18. > :24:23.be planned in order to conserve water and make sure we do not have
:24:23. > :24:29.to move to more stringent restrictions later. But 3.3 billion
:24:29. > :24:34.litres of water, 25% of our water, is lost every day. Is that
:24:34. > :24:38.acceptable? We need to encourage water companies to reduce leakage
:24:38. > :24:44.and the Government has made that clear. But should targets be more
:24:44. > :24:48.stringent? Germany only loses 10%. It is the economic regulator that
:24:48. > :24:52.sets these targets that it believes are a challenge to the industry to
:24:52. > :24:56.me to. The Government is also pushing water companies to do more
:24:56. > :25:02.to connect up supplies across the country. But Caroline Spelman says
:25:02. > :25:06.we need to think differently about the water we use. When you go to a
:25:06. > :25:09.dry country and you explain to them that, in a country like this, we
:25:09. > :25:15.used drinking water for everything, washing clothes, flushing the
:25:15. > :25:21.toilet, washing up. People are sometimes quite supplies by the
:25:21. > :25:27.that. -- quite surprised by that. Can you guarantee we will not have
:25:27. > :25:32.water rationing or standpipes? not alluded to say how much rained
:25:32. > :25:37.we will get. It is far too early to tell whether we're going to up the
:25:37. > :25:41.wet winter we do need. Whereas it is unlikely we would have
:25:41. > :25:49.standpipes this year. If we have another dry winter, that becomes
:25:49. > :25:53.more likely. Given the recent heavy rain and floods in the UK, talk of
:25:53. > :25:57.standpipes may sound extraordinary. But as Spain has discovered, the
:25:57. > :26:02.world is changing. Climate change and expanding population means
:26:02. > :26:07.demand for water is set to increase. And even if the rains to come this
:26:07. > :26:11.winter, pretty soon we will have to think of drinking water as the
:26:11. > :26:15.precious and scarce natural resources it really is.
:26:15. > :26:18.For the next few months, the national obsession with the weather
:26:19. > :26:27.forecast will be all the more important. To tell us what has in
:26:27. > :26:32.store this week, here is Hannah Temperature records were broken
:26:32. > :26:37.from March. The highest was in North Yorkshire. Since then, people
:26:37. > :26:43.turned soaking wet, the wettest on record nationally and in the North
:26:43. > :26:48.East, with more than three times of rain water. Back in 1976, it was
:26:48. > :26:53.very different. Our worst drought in living memory. Temperatures
:26:53. > :26:57.topped 30 Celsius in Newcastle, running out of St -- running out of
:26:57. > :27:06.suncream on the beaches of Barcelona and fines for washing
:27:06. > :27:13.your car. -- on the beaches of the time. Some water disappeared in
:27:13. > :27:18.Cumbria. For the next few days, staying dry, particularly clear in
:27:18. > :27:23.the West, all was Cloudiest for North Yorkshire and the North East.
:27:23. > :27:27.And north-easterly breeze bright -- and north-easterly breeze coming in
:27:27. > :27:33.from the coast for tomorrow. Most places avoid frost. Through
:27:33. > :27:37.tomorrow, the best of the sunshine in the West, all was Cloudiest in
:27:37. > :27:41.North Yorkshire and the North East. Still that chilly wind bringing
:27:41. > :27:46.cloud from the sea. As we tour the North East and North Yorkshire,
:27:46. > :27:51.temperatures between 8 and 12 Celsius, low for this time in early
:27:51. > :27:55.May. Particularly chilly on the North Northumberland coast.
:27:55. > :28:02.Crossing westwards, across the Pennines to Cumbria, it feels much
:28:02. > :28:07.more like spring, 16-17 Celsius. Light winds feeling very pleasant
:28:07. > :28:11.to end the afternoon. That north- easterly wind makes it less
:28:11. > :28:15.pleasant to the east of the Pennine hills. The big picture of the
:28:15. > :28:20.pressure sequins shows we are in between weather systems so it
:28:20. > :28:23.should stay generally dry. -- pressure sequence. High pressure
:28:23. > :28:27.dominating from the North meaning more chilly breezes over the
:28:27. > :28:31.weekend. It should be free from rain Saturday in to Sunday,
:28:31. > :28:35.although still a fair bit of cloud into the North East and possibly
:28:35. > :28:39.spots of drizzle. Not feeling quite as much might spring as we would
:28:39. > :28:47.hope. That is it for tonight from the