Managing the UK's water supply

Managing water supplies in the UK

• In the UK, the demand for water is increasing. But the places with the highest demand for water aren't the same as those with a good supply.

Demand and supply

• The north and west of the UK have high rainfall, meaning they have a good supply.
• The south east and midlands have a high population density, which means that there is a high demand for water.
• The south east and midlands are areas of water defecit.
• The north and west are areas of water surplus.

Deficit and Surplus

• Water Defecit
• When there is a higher demand for water than supply.
• Water Surplus
• When there is a higher supply of water than there is a demand.

Reasons for an increasing demand

• Over the last 25 years, the amount of water used has risen 50%.
• The population is predicted to increase by 10 million in the next 20 years

Managing water supply

• One way to deal with water supply and demand is to transfer water from areas of surplus to areas of a water defecit. For example, Birmingham is at a defecit, and is supplied with water from the middle of Wales (surplus)

...But there are issues with transferring water.

Problems with water transfer

• The dams and aqueducts needed are expensive
• It could affect river wildlife - for example, fish migration could be disrupted by dam building.
• There could be political problems - people may not want their water to go to another country.

Other ways to solve this problem...

• Another way to increase water supplies in defecit areas is to build more resevoirs to store more water. But this could include flooding existing settlements and relocating people.
• Fixing leaky pipes means less water is lost during transfer. Millions of litres are lost every day through leaky pipes around London - fixing them would stop this.

Reducing demand

• Demand can be reduced by reducing the amount of water used. This can be by taking showers instead of baths, running washing machines only when they're full, etc.
• Water companies want people to have water meters installed - they're more likely to be careful of the amount of water they use if they have to pay by the litre.