Water Resources East to address the region's 800Mlitre a day water deficit

The east of England faces shortages of 800 Mlitres of water a day by 2050, equal to a third of current regional water use.

That stark statistic – driven by the need to reduce abstraction (only 8% of water bodies in the region are in good health) and cater for a growing population and economy amid a changing climate – was central in the publication of Water Resources East’s first regional water resources plan for the east of England.

WRE warned that both economic prosperity and the health of the water environment are at risk if water scarcity challenges are not addressed as a matter of urgency. It said agricultural production and housing development could be curtailed, as is already the case in parts of Cambridgeshire, where planning approvals for thousands of homes, new commercial buildings and research facilities are already on hold due to a lack of available water.

WRE’s plan features actions including:

• cutting the region’s per person water needs by around a fifth by the late 2030s through demand and leakage reduction;

• two major new reservoirs, together storing 100bn litres of water, to be ready to construct by 2030. A new winter storage reservoir is also planned by 2040;

• a new pipeline to transfer supplies from Grafham Water to Cambridge to help alleviate pressures on sensitive chalk rivers and support growth; and

• in the long term, desalination plants on the coasts of Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Essex.

WRE pointed out: If demand for water can’t be kept in check, or the new supply-side options like transfers and reservoirs encounter delays, then the region will need to be supplied by more and larger desalination plants. A decision to commission the first of these could be needed in less than five years’ time depending on the trajectory of water use in the region between now and then.”

WRE’s regional water resources plan is multi-sector, and so also highlighted significant water scarcity challenges for farming, industry and the energy sector in the eastern region.“