The recently published Hydrological Survey for the UK confirms that following the warmest June for England and Wales since 1890, groundwater levels are at all-time lows. River flows are similarly low and, despite some rain at the end of July, we are facing imminent water shortages and hose pipe bans as reservoir levels reach crisis point.
This follows our very wet summer and autumn last year when establishing crops was so difficult. Climate change seems to be making the weather ever more unpredictable and creates further challenges for the beleaguered farming community. A lack of investment nationally in the water infrastructure means that we increasingly have too much water where we don’t need it and not enough where it is desperately needed. There does not seem to be a coherent plan for this yet as politicians squabble over short term issues. Thames Water remains on the brink of bankruptcy and most other water companies are well behind in their capital reinvestment programmes. Yet, despite all of this, discussions with farmers in the West Midlands suggest that cereal crop yields are better than feared. I am not sure the same will be true in the Eastern Counties.
Meanwhile we face a shortage in electricity supply as the demand from computing escalates. Cloud computing, AI, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices are creating massive amounts of data. This increases the need for fast computing and large storage systems. AI-powered applications require even more processing power, adding to the strain on data centres all of which require a massive amount of energy. At present about 2.5% of electricity generated in the UK is used by data centres. This is expected to rise to nearer to 15% over the next 10 years. Much of the new wind-powered generation of electric is, typically, in the wrong place in the North West.
We therefore face a twin set of utility issues: surplus water in some areas with drought in others and excess electric in some areas with shortages in others. The only solution is massive investment in large diameter water pipes and national electricity transmission lines. Some areas such as south and mid Wales are already feeling the effects of this with several controversial schemes. More is to come. What they all have in common is that these schemes will all have to go through agricultural land and farmers will have to deal with the fall out. Hopefully lessons will have been learned from previous projects so that future schemes can be more collaborative. Time is not on anyone’s side as the country desperately needs the power and water while farmers are battling with the weather and trying to cope with disruption from many directions.