GMB calls for water authority to implement Victorian solution to drought
GMB London repeat call for Thames Water and the government to implement Victorian plan to move water from Wales to cope with foreseeable periodic droughts in London and the South East
This is a win-win plan so Thames Water should accept the water being offered by United Utilities from Lake Vyrnwy and get it to the Thames via the restoration of the Cotswold canals and Sapperton tunnel says GMB London.
GMB London, the union for water workers, is repeating calls for Thames Water and the UK Government to implement plans, first drawn up in Victorian Times, to move water from Wales via the river Severn, the Cotswold canals into the river Thames to deal with predictable and expected periodic droughts in London and the South East. See below in notes to editors a copy of a February 2018 GMB press release on thisMark Holland, GMB London Regional Organiser for the water industry, said:
“As we experience yet another utterly predictable period of summer drought GMB is calling yet again on politicians and the public to urge Thames Water to implement a plan first developed by the Victorians to move water from the west of the UK via the Severn and the Cotswold canals and Sapperton tunnel into the Thames.
“This is a win-win plan. Thames Water should accept the water being offered by United Utilities from Lake Vyrnwy and get it to the Thames via the restoration of the Cotswold canals and Sapperton tunnel.
“This plan was covered in the Thames Water 2019 draft plan for water supply for London in the 21st century but is not included in the current list of things Thames Water plan to do.
“Instead of this very workable plan, one of the things Thames Water is planning to rely on is the hope of consumers cutting daily consumption from 145 litres to 125 litres.”
GMB the water workers union is urging everyone to push for this common sense and financially viable solution. Water is not something that is scarce in the UK, in fact, quite the contrary: we use less than 2% of the water that falls each year and which flows into the sea.
This has the capacity to supply 300 million litres per day and as a bonus, the canals are restored for leisure and recreational use. It is also easier to do than build a new reservoir at Abingdon with a footprint the size of Heathrow Airport.
It is essential that there is never a repeat of the near miss of the 2012 drought, so a belt and braces approach is the right one to rule out the £330m daily costs of failure of inadequate water supply."
End
Contact: Mark Holland, GMB London Region Organiser 077 3895 8141
Notes to editors
Copy of February 2018 GMB press release with comments
water-resources-management-plan-overview.pdf (thameswater.co.uk)
