Experts have warned of widespread crop failures in England as charities and farmers criticized water companies for diverging on hose bans despite drought being declared across much of the country.
On Friday, the Environment Agency classified eight of England’s 14 areas as drought-stricken. Despite this, water companies such as Anglian Water, Southern Water and South West Water have not banned the hoses. Thames Water said it has no plans to speed up the hose ban planned for next week.
Leaked documents seen by the Guardian from a meeting of the National Drought Group show figures on the state of farming in England.
hose ban chart
Half the potato crop is expected to fail as it cannot be irrigated, and even crops that are usually drought tolerant, such as maize, have failed.
The group was told that “irrigation options are diminishing with the rapid depletion of reservoirs”, and losses of 10-50% are expected for crops such as carrots, onions, sugar beet, apples and hops . Milk production has also fallen nationally due to a lack of feed for cows, and wildfires are endangering large tracts of farmland.
Farmers are deciding whether to drill crops for next year, and there are concerns that many will choose not to, with dire consequences for the 2023 crop. Livestock and other cattle are slaughtered early at lower weights because farmers are likely to run out of feed in the winter.
One of the driest areas is East Anglia, which is also home to much of England’s agriculture, including more than two-thirds of its sugar beet crop and a third of its potato crop.
However, Anglian Water has ruled out a hose ban for this summer, arguing it has good water levels in the reservoirs.
A spokesman said: “Today’s declaration of drought in the region we supply serves to underline the seriousness of the situation. But because of the investments we have made and the support of our customers, we are not yet considering the need to ban hosepipes in our region this summer.”
But farmers disagree. Tom Bradshaw, vice president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), said: “We have members who can’t draw irrigation water, but there’s still no hose ban in East Anglia. We can’t believe that we are not allowed to irrigate to grow the fruits and vegetables that the country needs, but there is no prohibition of excessive use by the consumer”.
He suggested the government should step in to ensure water companies did their part to mitigate the drought. “Defra ministers need to prioritize food production. Feeding people is very important.
“Minister Steve Double was called today and we made it clear to him that we need to plan for a dry winter and we need to fill our reservoirs, or next year’s food production could be in the balance. Irrigated vegetables are something that many people will eat, if we don’t have irrigation there will be very low availability [of vegetables]”.
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The Angling Trust’s Stuart Singleton-White agreed, saying chalk streams in East Anglia were suffering perhaps irreversible damage due to the dry conditions.
He said: “They still don’t take it seriously. Take East Anglia – almost all the chalk streams, except the Stiffkey, are at exceptionally low levels. They’ve had almost no rain and they have some of the most agriculture in the country, for so they need more water for irrigation. However, for some reason Anglian Water has not put a hose ban in place. And the drought that is being announced will not change that. We are in a position where areas classified as drought are not banning hoses.”
He has called for a ban on hosepipes across the drought region: “There are still several water companies in the drought area who say they have enough water and don’t need to ban hosepipes, but that will only confuse customers.
“A hose ban across the drought region would start to send the right messages about us all playing our part in conserving water.”
Areas under drought measures are Devon and Cornwall, Solent and South Downs, Kent and South London, Herts and North London, East Anglia, Thames, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire and the East Midlands. The Environment Agency expects two more areas, Yorkshire and the West Midlands, to enter drought at the end of August.
However, there was some encouraging news at the meeting: the National Trust told those gathered that while they have had low river flows, ponds drying up and bushfires, there are parts of their land that are “prosperous”, with lots of water: those where beavers have been introduced to create dams and store water.
A spokesman for Southern Water said: “We have restrictions in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, and nowhere else because resources do not demand it.”
The other water companies have been contacted for comment.