Why Does The UK Need New Reservoirs?

After the rain this summer, the water reserves in most parts of the UK are back to normal levels. However, there are still parts of England and Scotland at risk of water scarcity, so we can’t afford to rest on our laurels. And as we move towards hotter and drier summers - and the greater demand for water that comes with them - unfortunately, there will be less water available for use.

By 2050, the amount of our drinking water available in the UK could be reduced by 10-15%. In the hotter summers, there could be 50-80% less water in the rivers. Conversely, we get periods of very heavy rain falling in a short period of time which the rivers and ground cannot cope with, and that is why we end up with flooding.

Therefore, the need to save and store water produced in the wetter months for use in the drier months becomes crucial.

The growing need for water storage

Building new reservoirs is the most obvious solution to the need to store water. However, reservoirs take up a lot of space, and plans to build large reservoirs in recent years have met with stiff opposition, with people arguing the damaging effects on wildlife. In fact, it’s been 30 years since the last large reservoir was built in the UK.

Despite this, water companies continue to put plans forward for new reservoirs. As Hannah Stanley-Jones from Anglian Water told the BBC, by 2050 there could be a water deficit of hundreds of millions of litres a day: "It is absolutely crucial that we act now to reduce that deficit. Our water supplies are under pressure from a growing population, and from climate change and the need to protect the environment and make sure we're not abstracting from the environment in sensitive locations, such as abstractions that could impact our chalk streams.”

Anglian Water is currently working on plans to build two new reservoirs that will provide enough water for 750,000 homes. But even if the plans are passed, it could be the late 2030s before they are able to supply drinking water.

Havant Thicket Reservoir

While Anglian Water’s plans are still in the works, in Portsmouth, the go-ahead has been given to the UK’s first major reservoir in decades. Portsmouth Water’s Havant Thicket Reservoir has been designed not just to provide water to the local community, but also to provide environmental and leisure facilities for people. Work began preparing the site in 2021, and the reservoir is being constructed between 2023-26. It is still on schedule to be operational in 2029.

Do reservoirs necessarily need to take up green space?

As we said earlier, the problem with reservoirs is the opposition to the amount of land needed to store the water. But maybe this just involves a different mindset. We don’t always need to use reservoirs for potable water as much of our water usage could be taken care of with greywater.

Rainwater harvesting is an efficient way for businesses to collect water when it is plentiful to use to flush toilets and water grounds in the dryer parts of the year. One sports stadium in Hong Kong has gone one step further by installing a 60,000 m3 water storage tank underneath five of its pitches. Construction caused minimal disruption, did not need expensive foundations to be built, and has helped reduce flooding during heavy rains.