02/05/2012 Inside Out South East

We may have had heavy rain in the last few days, but it is too little,

too late. So what will be drowned mean for the sake -- what will the

drought mean for the South East? we have another drive winter, it

will be serious. How did a wet country like ours end up in a

drought? Drought, what drought? It has not stopped raining, but that

rain has not replenished hour underground water supply is.

Experts tell us their worries for the future. A I would like to think

we have got a plan to do with it, but I am not sure. And we will have

been laid is whether from our forecaster. -- we will have the

latest weather from our forecaster. I and Natalie Graham, bringing you

the latest on how the water shortages will affect us in the

South East. This is Drought 2012: Today, I am in Tunbridge Wells, in

the centre of the south-east. The drought is particularly bad in this

part of the country, but just how serious is it and could we be doing

Water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource here in Kent and

Sussex. Two of the driest winters on record mean we are officially in

drought. River levels and water suppliers are running low and the

effects are being felt throughout the south-east. Hosepipe bans are

in force and customers are being told to cut down their water use.

It is affecting our were rivers and putting a wildlife at risk. But

just how bad is this drought and are we doing enough to save water?

A we need to realise that we do not have as much water as wee thing and

we need to do our bit otherwise the drought will continue. The drought

has been caused by a lack of winter rainfall, so despite the fact it

has poured down during the past week, we are still in trouble. This

reservoir is only 60 % fall, so we can to find out if the recent rain

has made any difference. This is the great drought, isn't it. It is

Murphy's Law. I come here to talk about the drought and it is pouring

with rain, but it is is good news. How much is the brain helping?

will make a change to reservoirs like this. We can take water from

the Medway and bring it into Bewl. The rain is alive when asked to do

that. But not all our water in the south-east is from reservoirs. More

than 70 % comes from underground aquifers, like these. Rain soaks

through the rock and restore underground. That is part of the

problem. The rain has held locally. The farmers and gardeners have

benefited from that, but the aquifers under an offbeat only

replenish in the wintertime. After that period, the plants abound us

will suck up the water. They have one chance to fill and we have lost

it now. The impact of the drought is more obvious above ground. This

is a chalk river that is a haven for wildlife. What are you so

worried about this? If you look now, we can walk through this

comfortably. Normally, it would be up to the top of my Wellington

boots. Look at it, it is only inches deep. This is the time of

peak flow. The river should be at its best and not its worst. I will

have to find the key species here to see how they are been impacted

on by the drought. If we are lucky, we might find a bald head. Oh, look

at that. Perfect. -- ball head. These fish are only small and they

only lay about 50 eggs. They need clean water. They are disappearing

and we need to protect them. If the river tries, the river bed set like

concrete. The animals will have nowhere to live. We could lose the

species for decades. As well as its effect on wildlife, the lack of

rain means farmers are preparing for a try a future. At James

Smith's fruit Farm near Maidstone, he is building his own reservoir.

He grows apples and pears and is introducing technology to monitor

water levels on the farm. We are following the way the soft fruit

industry and salad guys have been doing it. When we get this new

system, we will monitor the water content of the soil, right down

through to the profile to see how much water is available to the

trees. Then we can deliver the right amount of whether it -- right

amount of water. A you doing this in response to the drought, or were

you going to do it anyway? It is riskier doing this kind of thing.

We are using irrigation and a reservoir to mitigate against the

risk of drought. But whilst agriculture and the environment are

having to adapt, our water companies doing enough to safeguard

suppliers? Last year Southern Water wasted an average of 96 million

litres every day. That is more than 21 million gallons. More than

enough water lost through leaks the two completely fill this reservoir.

The drought is not helped by the fact that Southern Water had failed

to meet their leakage targets. For this, the legislator has told them

to give �5 million back to their customers. People are concerned

about the water you waste. There is concern. Be it has to be a priority.

Quite clearly, we cannot vote leaking water and not managing that

situation and then asked customers to save water. That would be wrong.

What we have to accept is there will always be a large amount of

leakage from the system because it has millions of joints in it. We

currently have 250 people repairing and fixing leaks and I guarantee we

will come in well below the new target when it is set. No such

families in Kent and Sussex have to keep a close eye on what is going

down the drain. Compulsory metering has been introduced to try and cut

down water use. Families like the cast ands are now paying for every

drop and they are looking at ways to save. -- Castons. I am about to

visit the family to give them a makeover. This water but, showered

gadget and some advice is all they need. A lot of water used in the

House is down to mum Helen, who spends a lot of time in the bath.

Also, Ryan can spend up to 20 minutes in the shower. We know

about you shall have it. What can we do? If we can get you down to

four minutes, that will save about 120 litres. Meanwhile, we have got

some tips for Helen. You are not going to stop Helen having a bath?

Well, we are more concerned about waste of water. You can be used the

water. Areas where you can put your dirty bath water, best not to put

it on your herbs. Best place would be here, on this soil. The soil

will get rid of the insects and the soap. A good way to use your dirty

bathwater. Said that is the bath water cleared up. -- so that is.

Now it is time to check on the show would challenge. How was it? Great.

It has saved you about 320 litres. Your parents will be pleased when

they get their bill. And lastly, the water butt. You have water from

the roof been diverted into here. Easy enough to water your garden

which means that even when there is a hosepipe ban, you will have water

to water your garden. That average house has hundreds of litres of

water on the roof, said this can be filled several times. So just three

small changes will save the family around �200 a year. Has that help?

It has. We have got some good tips on how to save water and save some

money. We used about 150 litres of water per person every day. In

France and Germany it is 110. We need to realise that we don't have

as much water as we think and we need to do our bit otherwise the

drought will continue. The problems created by two years of below

average rainfall are complex. Experts are hoping there will not

be a third dry winter. If we end up moving through a third try of

winter, it will become extremely serious because there's underground

resources that we rely on do not get the opportunity to refill.

water such a scarce resource in a world region, it is clear we all

need to do our bit to make sure it Coming up later - we will have a

full weather forecast and David Whiteley had to southern Europe

where they know anything about droughts. The Spanish are facing

their worst drought for 70 years. What lessons can we learn from

them? Now, what is going on with the National weather and away

supply of water? We live in a country where we love to complain

about the rain and yet we have this drought. He is meteorologist Nick

The Lake District is England's work is place and looking below, there

were drought is the last thing that comes to mind. The reservoirs have

millions of litres of water. With all of this and with the recent

rain, how comes we are in drought? The Met Office are looking into

this. First port of call is the jet They are running into higher

pressure. They are not doing the job we want them to do, which is to

add a defeat -- a decent amount of rain. At this time of year, we are

competing with nature for water. Everything around us has embarked

on its bring growth. -- spring. What you don't see in some parts of

the country is underground. Go to the water underground, not

reservoirs, that supply 70 % of the most populated parts of England.

150 miles south-east of Windermere, and I am in drought territory. I'm

visiting the National Geological Survey, where they constantly

measure the ground water. They have created an underground map of

Britain. The areas in green here, the talk, running up and Yorkshire,

down in the south of Britain, around the south-east, it is a

really important level which only get recharged in the winter. We

have had two relatively dry winters. As you move south-east, they have

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

months have been significantly wetter than normal, including the

April just gone which delivered record rain. To really find out

just how low art ground water stocks are, last week I joined Andy

and his team to do a survey. One of the interesting things is that

you're seeing really dry walls to the borehole. Normally you would

see the walls would be glistening slightly, and they're not. Even

though it's been pouring with rain, that rain down here has not made a

jot of difference yet. No, it hasn't. It would take weeks or

months for the water to win portrait if it did, but that is not

going to. It is going to get taken up by the plants. We are very close.

So this is it? This is the surface of the water. How does it compare

with before? This is the 5th or 6th driest that we have seen out of

hundred and 80 years of records. The last major drought was in 1976

when one dry winter was followed by a very hot summer. People were

forced to queue in the streets to get their water. This drought is

different. It is not hot and sunny, it has been pouring down with rain.

And yet we have been told we could be in drought until Christmas.

Nobody is saying all this rain isn't making a difference. Of

course that is. We have had one of our wettest eight Paul's, even with

flooding. But that rain still hasn't reached where many of us get

our water from. -- Aprils. This aquifer is operated from pumping

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

aquifers? -- they are very low. -- just how low it are the aquifers?

They are very low. So, it is even worse than 1976? Yes, it is far

more widespread across the various regions. Our greatest fear is if we

have referred to dry winter. -- a third dry winter. The level is a

third lower than it should be. here, it is winter rain that

matters. And if we don't get enough next winter, we are all heading

Now, what options to we have if there is a third dry winter? Do we

have a strategy implies? David Whiteley begins his investigation

in a part of the world where they This church has stood here in this

valley in northern Spain for more than 500 years. But I shouldn't

even be able to be here, because this of the bottom of a reservoir.

And that's by air is usually submerged under thousands of tons

of water. The reason it is so dry it is because Spain is going

through its worst drought for 70 years. Reservoirs are drying up and

forest fires have been raging in other parts of the country. Just

look at the waterline in this reservoir. Look how high it should

be, and look camera tours. Just under those trees is where the

water should be. Incredible. So can Spain give us a glimpse into an

uncomfortable feature of? Four years ago, the situation got so bad

the taps in Barcelona almost ran dry and the City was forced to

shipping supplies from France. Through simple measures such as

turning off taps, having timed showers and teaching water

conservation in its schools, Barcelona is now well on its way to

becoming one of the world's leading cities in saving water. People here

used 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 recycling the water in Barcelona's famous fountains. This

isn't the first and it won't be the last time Barcelona has based

drought, but that experience four years ago forced everyone to think

about the way they use water at every level. And this place was the

answer. They built of this massive plant, which is the largest in

Europe. By taking sea water from the Mediterranean, the plant can

produce 180 million litres of fresh water every day. But that is still

only affair of the city's needs. So it is used as a stop gap when

reservoirs are low -- only want beer. A systemic his much more

secured. -- the system is much more secure. If there is a drought, the

plant can produce more. After building Europe's first plant 40

years ago, Spain is a leader in the technology. But it is not a

permanent solution. The water is very expensive. Unlike Spain which

uses much of its water bowl agriculture, this is where we use

most of ours, for generating electricity in our power stations.

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

the trouble is, we used to much. As head of water resources at the

Environment Agency, it is Trevor's job to try to find a solution. So,

is turning salt water into freshwater the answer? We have

already got one big plants near London, which will safeguard water

supplies for London. But you don't want to villi and deceleration. It

is very expensive. -- deceleration. It underpins much of the way we

have managed water supplies now. In the future, moving water around

even more is going to be part of the answer. But not the whole

answer. Are we talking about a National Grid of water? As far as

electricity is concerned, if some way is generating electricity, you

don't get blackout another part of the country, so why should we have

restrictions on water it in one part of the country and not the

other? If you build a big mane of water from the North of England to

the south of England, for example, you can have drought in the North

rely on moving water around the country exclusive -- exclusively.

So, if we shouldn't rely on moving water, what will happen if we have

referred dry winter? It is difficult to say. We would be no

bad place. We have never had three dry winters in a row, but you would

be expecting measures to try and conserve water that would be quite

dramatic. People's water supply would be cut off, they would have

to take buckets down to standpipes. It could be tens of thousands. As

far as I'm aware, there is no strategic national plan to deal

with three dry winters in a row. By would like to be proven wrong, I

would like to think we had a plan to deal with it. I think our plan

is built on hope that it rains and hope is a very poor strategy for

dealing with a risky an important business. So, is there a strategy

or not? Caroline Spelman is the environment agency officer. We have

seen this coming and we have been planning for it. For we have --

what we are putting in place now is measures to deal with that. For

example, restrictions on non- essential water in a domestic

setting. We need to make sure we don't need to move towards more

stringent restrictions later. to 0.3 billion litres of water is

lost every day. Is that acceptable -- 3.3 billion. Should the targets

be more stringent? Germany earlier lose 10 % of their water. It is the

economic regulator that sets these targets that it believes are a

challenge to the industry. government is also pushing water

companies to do more to connect up supplies across the country. But

Caroline Spelman says we need to think differently about the water

we use. When you go to a dry country and you explain to them

that in a country like ours, we used drinking water for everything,

we wash our clothes in drinking water. We flush the toilet with

drinking water. We wash up with drinking water. They are sometimes

quite surprised with that. Can you guarantee that if we had have a

third try water, we went -- if we have a third dry it winter, we

won't have all these things in place like standpipes? If we have

another dry winter, standpipes become a more likely. Given the

recent heavy rain and floods in the UK, talk of standpipes may seem

extraordinary. But as they have discovered here 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 do come this

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

the pressures and scarce natural resource it really is. -- precious.

So, what is the weather situation here in the south-east? Let's go

over to a forecaster in the studio. Thank you. Yes, we are officially

in drought in the south-east. Normally here in the south-east we

would be expecting to see over a year at 776.8 mm of rainfall. In

2010, we saw just 689 mm of rain. In 2011, even less than that, 634.8

mm. Two very it right years. -- very dry. There has been 18 months

of well below average rainfall. But a particularly wet April, the

wettest on record across the UK. Normally in the south-east over the

month, we will be expecting around 53 mm of rain. In fact, we saw

135.4 mm of rain. That is 257 % of the average rain we normally would

be expecting. So, a very wet month indeed. But of course we are still

in drought and the reason for that is two particularly dry years.

Looking forward, plenty of rain in the forecast. We have got a gentle,

northerly winds which will take the edge off those temperatures. A

weather warning in place for heavy and persistent rain. As we go it

would tomorrow afternoon, it will be increasingly dry but still

feeling miserable. Temperature is raised -- ranging between 9 and 12

degrees. Further rain around the Saturday. It clears up a Sunday but

as we head into the new week, the rain will be returning. So, a

warning out about heavy and persistent rain for tomorrow. Rain

for Saturday, increasingly dry as Thank you. If you want any more