:00:11. > :00:20.Hello. Welcome to a special edition of Inside Added. It is all about
:00:20. > :00:28.the drug. Here is what is coming up. -- of the drought. The truth is we
:00:28. > :00:32.do not have enough water in our rivers for people to drink.
:00:33. > :00:37.investigate the true story behind our weather. What drought? It has
:00:37. > :00:43.not stopped raining for the last few weeks! And what is the plan for
:00:43. > :00:48.tackling England's water shortage? As far as I am aware, there is no
:00:48. > :00:52.strategic national plan to deal with three dry winters in a row.
:00:52. > :00:56.will bring you a full five-day forecast and take a look at the
:00:56. > :01:06.last two Macromedias' rainfall figures and explaining why we are
:01:06. > :01:15.
:01:15. > :01:20.still in drought. -- the last two I know what you are thinking - it
:01:20. > :01:25.has been chucking it down, so what is the problem? It is not what is
:01:25. > :01:33.happening now, but what did not happen two years ago, and those dry
:01:33. > :01:41.winters have been having an effect By the beginning of April, the
:01:41. > :01:45.drought had already had a big impact on wildlife. The RSPB at
:01:45. > :01:55.Otmoor near Oxford had to abandon most of its wet land preserved and
:01:55. > :01:56.
:01:56. > :02:02.focus on pumping water to just 40 of its 400 hectares. It meant so
:02:02. > :02:08.calls of the animals providing food dried out. This should be about 30
:02:08. > :02:13.centimetres deep. This will do strike out on that will be it.
:02:13. > :02:20.bad is it? I thought I would put a six-inch nail down for fun. This is
:02:20. > :02:25.the length of a Snape. I put it into the soil to see what it is
:02:25. > :02:30.like. Normally, you would be pushing it into the mud. You can
:02:30. > :02:34.see, as you are pushing in, quite a lot of force has gone in Neville
:02:34. > :02:44.stop as they feed, they stabbed in and out. You can see how deep that
:02:44. > :02:49.has gone down. Inside an impressive predator fence, there is far more
:02:49. > :02:55.activity than in the comparatively tiny part where water has been
:02:55. > :03:00.pumped. Foxes and badgers are the main predators. From the fields
:03:00. > :03:04.around us, this is where we have moved water into this area. It is
:03:04. > :03:09.an instant impact. As soon as we put the pop song, shift the water
:03:09. > :03:15.over the hill, within about a day, the water comes on here. Everyone
:03:15. > :03:19.commented on the number of birds that moved into the area. We are
:03:19. > :03:23.confident we can hold this water for longer in this area. If it is
:03:23. > :03:28.spread out, it will be very shallow and with the evaporation we have
:03:28. > :03:33.got, it will disappear quickly. Then at the skies opened and
:03:33. > :03:38.instead of worrying about drought, the scrapes filled and flooding
:03:38. > :03:43.threatened to wash nests away. Long term, though, the biggest problem
:03:43. > :03:48.is with our world famous chalk streams. This is the River Kennet,
:03:48. > :03:52.a classic English chalk stream. But a lack of rain and continued
:03:52. > :03:56.abstraction of the water has left levels very low and
:03:56. > :03:59.conservationists are now seriously concerned about its future. The
:03:59. > :04:04.Kennet, which runs between Marlborough and Reading, has become
:04:04. > :04:10.a symbol of the drought. The 10 mile stretch of the canal even had
:04:10. > :04:13.to be closed this winter because of lack of water. Despite the April
:04:14. > :04:19.rain, some sections of the Kennet are still flooding at well below
:04:19. > :04:24.normal levels. Two dry winters are part of the problem but campaigners
:04:24. > :04:29.point out the river also loses millions of litres of water a day,
:04:29. > :04:33.taken from a borehole at Axford and piped to homes in Swindon. In a
:04:33. > :04:38.typical year, this would be a nice flowing river and very often, this
:04:38. > :04:42.would be flooded across the fields. This part of the chalk landscape
:04:42. > :04:48.used to rely heavily on flooding the meadows to get the spring grass
:04:48. > :04:54.growing to put the lamb was on. Chalk Africa water is a good
:04:54. > :05:00.aquifer source to put into the water soil. -- Africa -- aquifer
:05:00. > :05:04.water. If we are not careful, we will have drained all the chalk
:05:04. > :05:08.streams dry. Thames Water says it is waiting for the Environment
:05:08. > :05:13.Agency to finance an agreed pipeline, which will halve the
:05:13. > :05:17.amount it takes from the Kennet, which it admits is being damaged.
:05:17. > :05:21.We have to find a balance and it is not true to say we want to pump as
:05:21. > :05:27.much water as possible. We want to take as little as possible but we
:05:27. > :05:34.want to make sure we take as much as our customers need. It is not an
:05:34. > :05:37.option to just turn the tap off at the Axford a borehole. We have to
:05:37. > :05:44.work up a long-term sustainable solution and that is exactly what
:05:44. > :05:49.we are doing. The Orange shows that we are right down and have had
:05:49. > :05:51.between 30 and 49% of average rainfall. Meanwhile, Charlotte
:05:52. > :05:57.Hitchmough of Action For The River Kennet has been working with a
:05:57. > :06:02.local secondary school to raise trout. Today, they are going to be
:06:02. > :06:06.released into the river. It is one way of showing people the
:06:06. > :06:11.connection between the water in their homes and the rivers on their
:06:11. > :06:17.doorstep. I never used to think about it but since we started this
:06:17. > :06:20.project, it has made me think a lot more about the rain drought. It
:06:20. > :06:25.shocked to beat and it is more serious than I thought it was.
:06:25. > :06:31.lot of the water we use in our houses comes from the river, so the
:06:31. > :06:39.drug means we have to use less. do we check the help of the River?
:06:39. > :06:46.-- the drought. The organisms living in the river are a good
:06:46. > :06:50.indicator of good, clean, plentiful water. A good score would be about
:06:50. > :06:54.12 on the abyss of reach. At the top end of the river, we are
:06:55. > :06:58.struggling to get as score of one. Some of the strictures have had no
:06:58. > :07:04.water at all through the winter, so the water has just come back into
:07:04. > :07:09.those bits of river. On the surface, the river looks fine because it has
:07:09. > :07:13.water, but when you look around, there is no life. It is not just
:07:13. > :07:17.this river suffering. Our chalk streams are internationally famous
:07:17. > :07:22.and the rare and most renowned of all are the rivers Test and Itchen,
:07:22. > :07:27.which draw of the fishermen from around the world. But this year, on
:07:27. > :07:31.the legendary Bourne, of more than a mile of fishing has been closed.
:07:31. > :07:35.This is an ultimate place that the connoisseur comes fishing. It has a
:07:35. > :07:42.wonderful history and where we are standing now should be not just
:07:42. > :07:50.wide gravel but there should be big tresses of green tweed. You can see
:07:50. > :07:53.the water here hardly covers the top of your boots. -- or weed. All
:07:53. > :07:58.other things that eat fish tend to be trapped in the sections of
:07:58. > :08:02.deeper water. You will have a little gravel ripple and Ben Eddy
:08:02. > :08:10.perception and another gravelled ripple. It is very easy for mink,
:08:10. > :08:15.otters, herons and egrets to catch the fish. It is a good year to be a
:08:15. > :08:20.heron but a bad year to be a trout. The water that makes these rivers
:08:20. > :08:25.flow comes from deep under the chalk. It is so pure that you do
:08:26. > :08:29.not need to treat it before you pied it to the customer. It is the
:08:29. > :08:35.cheapest water met - backwater it you can get. Water companies want
:08:35. > :08:39.as much of this water as they can because the cost is low. The truth
:08:39. > :08:45.is that we do not have enough water in our rivers for people to drink
:08:45. > :08:49.what comes from underneath them. This is my baby. I have been
:08:49. > :08:58.looking after it since 1994 and it is like a love affair. It is very
:08:58. > :09:01.sad when you see it looking so sick. Hampshire has a particular problem.
:09:01. > :09:06.The River Itchen brought the ball to live in cities like Southampton
:09:06. > :09:12.and Winchester but with ever- growing populations, but demands on
:09:12. > :09:17.the river are enormous. -- brought people. There is still a question
:09:17. > :09:21.of whether water is going to come from. There is always talk of a
:09:21. > :09:27.national grid of water, bringing water through the canal system. If
:09:27. > :09:33.we move water from Wales, it will destroy it this terrain. We will
:09:33. > :09:37.not pull icebergs of the English Channel to supply people. At the
:09:37. > :09:43.end of the day, we are totally dependent in Hampshire on a chalk
:09:43. > :09:47.water. We have to share that water between us, people, and the
:09:47. > :09:55.environment. When you turn on your tap, do you know where your water
:09:55. > :10:02.has come from? No. What is your best bet? A reservoir somewhere.
:10:02. > :10:07.idea. I would not like to save. It tastes OK, so I am happy. It comes
:10:07. > :10:14.from their nearest reservoir. water filtration plant. Ruler has
:10:14. > :10:18.it it comes from the Dolomites or Spain! The point is that water is a
:10:18. > :10:22.local and renewable resource, unlike oil or gas, which is
:10:22. > :10:26.imported from all over the world. If you live in Hampshire, you live
:10:26. > :10:29.within probably a couple of miles away your water comes from. There
:10:29. > :10:35.was a question of water companies taking responsibility but also
:10:35. > :10:40.people. This is my river, and I know that every kettle of water I
:10:40. > :10:46.Phil is a kettle less in this run of. Multiply that by 400,000 and
:10:46. > :10:51.that is a lot of water. So, two bone dry printers and we are
:10:51. > :10:53.contemplating a third. What is going on with our weather?
:10:53. > :11:03.Meteorologist Nik Miller has travelled the length and breadth of
:11:03. > :11:15.
:11:15. > :11:20.The Lake District is England's wettest place and looking below,
:11:20. > :11:23.the word drought is the last thing that comes to mind. It is rain rich
:11:23. > :11:27.land and the reservoirs with billions of litres of water are
:11:27. > :11:33.also here. With all of this and on an island where it has not stopped
:11:33. > :11:36.raining for weeks, how come so much of England is in drought? The Met
:11:36. > :11:40.Office is now looking into what is behind this apparent change in our
:11:40. > :11:45.climate. The first place they are looking is the jet stream that
:11:45. > :11:52.carries bring Baring weather fronts across the Atlantic. The jet stream
:11:52. > :11:56.has tended to be a bit further north. -- reign at Baring. The part
:11:56. > :12:00.of England that is so short of rain is running into high pressure. They
:12:00. > :12:04.are not doing the job we want them to do, which is to add a decent
:12:04. > :12:08.round to rain and top of that the water levels in the aquifers.
:12:08. > :12:13.are competing with and 84 water. Everything around us has embarked
:12:13. > :12:16.on its spring growth. You do not get England's green and pleasant
:12:16. > :12:20.land without it. But while everything is turning green and you
:12:21. > :12:25.see the reverse starting to fill, what you do not see in some parts
:12:25. > :12:29.of the country is even more important. Bat is underground. It
:12:29. > :12:35.is the water underground, not reservoirs, that supplies 75% of
:12:35. > :12:45.the most populous parts of England. 150 miles south-east of Windermere,
:12:45. > :12:50.
:12:50. > :12:55.They are using data to create an underground map of Britain.
:12:55. > :12:59.areas that are in green, it is running up into Lincolnshire,
:12:59. > :13:05.Yorkshire, and in the south of Britain, around the South East, it
:13:05. > :13:12.is a really important aquifer. That gets recharged by rainfall in the
:13:12. > :13:16.winter. We have had a couple of relatively dry winters. Groundwater
:13:16. > :13:21.levels have remained normal in the north-west but as you move South
:13:21. > :13:27.East, they have dropped in volume by one third.
:13:27. > :13:33.To really find out how low stocks are, last week I joined this team
:13:33. > :13:40.are doing based survey. This is the South Downs. It is
:13:40. > :13:44.Wallaby try as part of England. -- it is one of the driest parts of
:13:44. > :13:49.England. We will find out how far we have to go down to find that
:13:49. > :13:54.water. The aquifer is effectively a
:13:54. > :14:00.pressurised sponge, full of water. It was tapped by the Victorians.
:14:00. > :14:06.The water would normally be about 20 metres below ground level.
:14:06. > :14:11.This is the exciting bit. How far down? It is looking exciting as
:14:11. > :14:16.promising. I can see a reflection that we are only at about 30 metres.
:14:16. > :14:22.Before long, we pass the point where we would normally find water
:14:22. > :14:26.and the camera keeps descending. You are seeing really dry walls. If
:14:27. > :14:32.there was any Recharge happening, you would see moisture or, at least
:14:32. > :14:38.on the camera. Even though it has been pouring
:14:38. > :14:42.with rain, that rained down here has not made a - any difference yet.
:14:42. > :14:46.It would take weeks, probably months for it to infiltrate, if it
:14:46. > :14:55.did. But it is not going to because it will be taken up by the plans --
:14:55. > :15:03.plants. We are coming up to 34.4. How does it compare with how long
:15:03. > :15:12.it has been before? This is the 5th or 6th driest in records. It is
:15:12. > :15:17.pretty low. The last major drought was in 1976.
:15:17. > :15:21.Now we are saying, save water. People were forced to queue in the
:15:21. > :15:25.streets to get water. This drought is different. It is
:15:25. > :15:30.not hot and sunny. It has been pouring with rain and we are being
:15:30. > :15:33.told we could be in doubt until Christmas.
:15:33. > :15:38.No one is saying of the rain is not making the difference. Of course it
:15:38. > :15:43.is. We have one of our wettest Aprils. But it still has not
:15:43. > :15:47.reached where many of us get our quarter, the aquifers. What the
:15:47. > :15:56.Victorians started with Welles was an expanded to exploit the natural
:15:56. > :16:03.resources on a much bigger scale. This aquifer is operated by South
:16:03. > :16:10.East Water. Kevin, that is the precious water.
:16:10. > :16:19.How low RB aquifers? It is a very serious situation. The aquifers are
:16:19. > :16:27.very low. The Rezso was Andy rivers are rivers -- the reservoirs and
:16:27. > :16:31.rivers are high because of the recent rainfall. It is even worse
:16:31. > :16:41.than 19 Sunday six will stop yes, I think it is worse than 19 Sunday
:16:41. > :16:46.
:16:46. > :16:51.six. -- 1976. The level of recharges a third
:16:51. > :16:57.lower than it should be. It seems we are even further from that
:16:57. > :17:02.soaking rain that has been falling above ground. Down here, it is
:17:02. > :17:12.winter rain that matters. If we do not get enough next winter, then we
:17:12. > :17:14.
:17:14. > :17:19.will all be heading into the What of the future? David has been
:17:19. > :17:29.seeing how the government's water strategy measures against our
:17:29. > :17:30.
:17:30. > :17:35.This church has stood in this valley in northern Spain for more
:17:35. > :17:41.than 500 years. I should not be able to be here because this is the
:17:41. > :17:46.bottom of a reservoir. It is usually submerged under thousands
:17:46. > :17:53.of tons of water. The reason it is so dry is Spain is going through
:17:53. > :17:57.its worst drought for 70 years. Forest fires have been raging in
:17:57. > :18:06.other parts of the country. Look at the waterline. Look how high you
:18:06. > :18:16.should be. Look how low it is. That is incredible. Can Spain deceit
:18:16. > :18:17.
:18:17. > :18:25.limbs into an uncomfortable future? The taps in Barcelona recently
:18:25. > :18:28.almost ran dry. They were forced to ship in supplies from France.
:18:28. > :18:34.The residents have had to completely change their attitude
:18:35. > :18:41.towards water. Is incredible that something as simple as water had to
:18:41. > :18:46.be transported in tankers into Barcelona. What was that like?
:18:46. > :18:50.is a first, as far as I know. It never had to be carried through on
:18:50. > :18:59.a massive scale but before that, there was a sensation that it was
:18:59. > :19:09.not going to be easy. People would have to have water rations.
:19:09. > :19:11.
:19:11. > :19:17.have we were adapted your lifestyle? -- you. We took
:19:17. > :19:27.consciousness of how precious water The children talk about about it a
:19:27. > :19:30.school. -- talk about it a lot at school. Simple measures, turn off
:19:30. > :19:34.taps and teaching water conservation in schools, Barcelona
:19:34. > :19:41.is now well on its way to becoming one of the world's leading cities
:19:41. > :19:47.on saving water. People use just 107 litres per day. That compares
:19:48. > :19:57.to 150 in the UK. They have also tried using water
:19:57. > :20:00.from showers to flush toilets. And recycling the water in it the
:20:00. > :20:05.famous fountains. They had experienced in Barcelona
:20:05. > :20:09.forced everyone to change the way they think about water -- that
:20:09. > :20:17.experience. This place was the answer. They
:20:17. > :20:22.have built this massive plant. It is the largest in Europe. By taking
:20:22. > :20:27.sea water from the Mediterranean, the plant can produce 180 million
:20:27. > :20:34.litres of fresh water every day. But that is still only a 5th of the
:20:34. > :20:37.city's needs. It is used as a stop gap.
:20:37. > :20:43.TRANSLATION: The system is much more secure because of this plant
:20:43. > :20:50.but this is not total security. It allows us time to function between
:20:50. > :20:54.periods of rain. If there is a drought, the plant can produce more.
:20:54. > :20:59.After building Europe's first such plant 40 years ago, Spain is now a
:20:59. > :21:02.world leader in the technology but it is not a perfect solution. The
:21:02. > :21:09.war to produce year is very expensive and the Barcelona plant
:21:09. > :21:15.uses enough energy to power a small town -- the water here.
:21:15. > :21:20.Unlike Spain, this is where we use most of ours, generating a trustee
:21:21. > :21:26.in power stations. Most of the rest, around 40 %, is used in homes and
:21:26. > :21:36.gardens. But the trouble is, we used to much. More than any other
:21:36. > :21:36.
:21:36. > :21:42.developed countries. Is turning salt water into fresh water the
:21:42. > :21:47.answer? We have one plant near London and that will be important.
:21:47. > :21:52.I think be likelihood of are seeing more plants in England is quite
:21:52. > :21:59.high. But you do not want to be relying on it as it is very
:21:59. > :22:04.expensive and produces a lot of carbon. This is very picturesque.
:22:04. > :22:09.Water gets moved down. It is -- is it an option for water can best
:22:09. > :22:14.companies to transfer water from different parts of the country?
:22:14. > :22:19.Victorians started doing that and it underpins the way that we manage
:22:19. > :22:22.water resources now. In the future, war -- moving water around even
:22:22. > :22:27.more, greater connectivity within the country and the networks, it
:22:27. > :22:33.will be part of the answer but not the entire answer. That is the new
:22:33. > :22:37.buzz word, connectivity. If someone is generating electricity, you do
:22:37. > :22:41.not get blackouts another part of the country. Why should we have
:22:41. > :22:51.drought conditions or a Citroen's in one part of the country and not
:22:51. > :22:52.
:22:52. > :22:56.about? If you bring water from the north
:22:56. > :22:58.to the south, you can have droughts in the North of England as well.
:22:58. > :23:07.You do not want to rely on moving water around the country
:23:07. > :23:13.exclusively. What is going to happen, if we have a third dry
:23:13. > :23:20.winter? Difficult to say. But we would be a very bad place.
:23:20. > :23:30.We have not worked out the consequences. But you would be
:23:30. > :23:31.
:23:31. > :23:39.expecting measures to try and to serve water, it would be dramatic.
:23:39. > :23:44.-- conserve water. As far as I am aware, there is no strategic
:23:44. > :23:48.national plan to deal worth three dry winters in a row. I would like
:23:48. > :23:55.to be proven wrong. I would like to think we have a plan. I do not know
:23:55. > :24:04.of one. I think the plan is based on hope that it rains. It is a very
:24:04. > :24:08.poor strategy. Is there a strategy or not?
:24:08. > :24:14.Yes, because we have to have contingency plans. Drought is a
:24:14. > :24:19.natural phenomenon and can-can -- can take place at any time. What we
:24:19. > :24:22.are putting in place on measures in -- to deal with that. Temporary
:24:22. > :24:28.restrictions on non-essential uses of water in a domestic setting.
:24:28. > :24:37.That is something we plan to do in order to conserve water and it
:24:37. > :24:44.shall we do not have to move to more stringent restrictions. --
:24:44. > :24:49.ensure. We need to encourage the water companies to reduce leakage
:24:49. > :24:54.and the government has made that reedy clear. Should targets be more
:24:54. > :24:58.stringent? It is the economic regulator that
:24:58. > :25:01.sets these targets. It believes they are a challenge to the
:25:01. > :25:10.industry to meet. The government is also pushing water companies to do
:25:10. > :25:15.more to connect up supplies across the country.
:25:15. > :25:20.When you go to a dry country and you explain to them but in the UK,
:25:20. > :25:27.we used drinking water for everything, we flush the toilet,
:25:27. > :25:30.wash clothes, they are sometimes quite surprised by that. Can you
:25:30. > :25:40.guarantee that if we could a third try winter, we will not have water
:25:40. > :25:41.
:25:41. > :25:49.rationing? -- dry. It is far too early to tell yet whether we will
:25:49. > :25:58.have the wet winter of what the -- that we do need. If we have another
:25:58. > :26:02.dry winter, it becomes more likely that we will have to take action.
:26:02. > :26:06.It may sound extraordinary but as he had discovered in Spain, the
:26:06. > :26:10.world is changing. Climate change and an expanding population mean
:26:10. > :26:15.demand for water is set to increase and even if it does rain this
:26:15. > :26:25.winter, pretty soon, we will all have to think about drinking water
:26:25. > :26:27.
:26:27. > :26:32.as the pressures and scarce natural What has been happening closer to
:26:32. > :26:41.home? We are officially in drought. How
:26:41. > :26:49.Let's take a look at the rainfall figures for the last couple of
:26:49. > :26:55.years. Only three months were wetter than average. 19 months were
:26:55. > :26:59.drier than average. That did not help.
:26:59. > :27:09.In it the South, in any 12 a month period, the long-term average
:27:09. > :27:10.
:27:10. > :27:20.suggests we should see 777 mm. But we only received about 557 mm. That
:27:20. > :27:21.
:27:21. > :27:31.is painfully below average. April was pretty wet everywhere.
:27:31. > :27:32.
:27:32. > :27:34.The wet as place was England. It was very impressive. It was
:27:34. > :27:44.around to wonder quarter times what we would normally see in the month
:27:44. > :27:47.
:27:47. > :27:57.of April. --2.25. This suggests the average rainfall. Anything below
:27:57. > :27:57.
:27:58. > :28:02.that is below average. You can see quite a few below average. People
:28:02. > :28:07.was very impressive in terms of rainfall. It was the wettest April
:28:07. > :28:11.for well over a century but we are still in drought because it was the
:28:11. > :28:19.driest 18th month -- 18 months period for over 90 years in the
:28:19. > :28:23.south. There is rain in the forecast. Some
:28:23. > :28:32.heavily -- heavy and thundery downpours tonight and more on
:28:32. > :28:40.Saturday, but it is not enough. We need an exceptionally wet winter.