Head
Office Press Office - 7-Sep-2006 - The Environment
Agency today said that a large-scale water grid
from the north of England or Wales was not the
answer to water shortages in the south east.
Releasing its review into the
feasibility of a national water grid, the Environment
Agency said sharing water between regions, reducing
leaks, encouraging water savings in households
and industry and building new reservoirs were
better, more sustainable solutions.
The report, which looked at
existing evidence, also provided a new assessment
of the cost of developing water transfers. It
would cost up to £15 billion to build a
national water grid comprising five pipelines
large enough to carry 1000 megalitres a day some
560km from the northern Pennines to London. This
would be at least four times more expensive than
building new reservoirs.
Acting Chief Executive, Paul
Leinster, said the idea of a national water grid
had been looked at many times in the past but
the Environment Agency still saw no need for water
to be pumped across the country to meet the needs
of south east England.
"In engineering terms,
a national grid is feasible but there's no point
in spending money on a big scheme that isn't needed.
It could cost up to £15 billion to build
and millions more in ongoing operating costs -
and all that money would come out of the pockets
of water bill payers," Dr Leinster said.
"On top of this, the amount
of energy needed to pump that much water - where
a cubic metre of water weighs a tonne and is only
enough for one person for a week - is unacceptable
and would result in a significant increase in
emissions of greenhouse gases.
"We think water companies
can meet future water demand over the next 25
years without the need for a national grid. Our
national strategy for water resources identifies
the need for new resource developments, but not
on the scale of a national grid. Other measures,
such as demand management, metering and reducing
leakage, also have a big role to play in managing
water supplies.
"In the end, we all have
to take responsibility for our water use. If people,
water companies and industry all work together,
we can reduce the need for massive engineering
solutions and look at more sustainable solutions."
The report highlights:
The cost of constructing a national
grid - up to £15 billion - is equivalent
to £8-14 million per megalitre a day. It
would also cost millions of pounds in ongoing
operating costs. Water companies estimate that
the total cost of building seven new or extended
reservoirs to meet demand is about £1.6
million per megalitre a day.
The possible impacts that a
national grid could have on the environment, including
the transfer of water using rivers. There is also
a risk of transfer of fish diseases and alien
species.
It would only be worth building
a water grid if the demand for water in south
east England exceeded the available supply, there
were no cheaper options locally and water companies'
existing plans were inadequate.
Dr Leinster said there was agreement
between Government Ministers, regulators and the
water companies that a national water grid was
not needed and there were better solutions much
closer to home.
"We need to make better
use of the water we have. Water companies must
tackle leakage, demand management and local resource
development before thinking about transferring
water from further away and spending people's
money on questionable transfer schemes."
The last time a national grid
was looked at in detail was in 1973 by the Water
Resources Board. In 1994, the National Rivers
Authority also looked at a range of options to
meet future water demand.
A national water grid would
involve connecting all the major reservoirs and
boreholes, allowing water to be shared between
all of them in a network similar to the national
electricity grid. Smaller transfers of water already
exist between some water companies.
The report, Do we need large-scale
water transfers for south east England? is available
on the Environment Agency website.
