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Greenpeace warns water supply "on brink of collapse" after seeing regulator's heatwave briefings

by Karma Loveday

Greenpeace’s investigative arm, Unearthed, last week defined the UK’s water supply as being “on the brink of collapse” during the 2022 heatwave, after obtaining internal briefing documents from the Environment Agency (EA) following a Freedom of Information request.


Among the challenges levelled in the Unearthed report were:

  • water levels in some reservoirs reached record lows and were close to "dead storage", where there is so little water it may not be treatable and nearly half of England’s reservoirs had levels classed as "exceptionally low";

  • the EA was facing choices between approving permits needed to maintain water supply and upholding environmental law and warned that some companies might end up abstracting water illegally;

  • the EA raised concerns to Defra about “potential immediate supply risks” in Yorkshire and the south-west.


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