Water firms ignored decades-old climate warnings, now face southern England drought
A senior academic says water utilities in southern England failed to act on Met Office climate forecasts from the late 1990s, contributing to the current drought.
During a 1998 event in London, the Meteorological Office presented its inaugural climate-change impact models, which warned of increased summer dryness and accelerated warming in the south-east of the United Kingdom. Water executives from the southern region were present, but today they appear taken aback by the severe drought affecting much of England. An emeritus professor of public health entomology at Durham University contends that the utilities ignored the early warnings and failed to invest in additional storage capacity.
He attributes this inaction to a focus on profit distribution to shareholders rather than long-term resilience. The professor calls for immediate attention to reservoir development to mitigate future water shortages. The critique underscores a disconnect between scientific forecasting and corporate planning.
Why it matters
Ignoring early climate warnings risks water shortages and higher costs for consumers.
In this story