Time to invest in infrastructure we actually need
IT MAY be winter and pretty rainy but now is the time to start thinking about this summer’s inevitable water shortages in southeast England. For years, the government’s strategy has been to ration water. Yet in parts of the UK it rains almost every other day all year long. The wet regions are economically deprived; whereas the drought-ridden southeast is wealthy. Is it beyond the wit of man to see the solution?
The private sector can build and finance pipelines – but an Act of Parliament is needed to grant the powers to start digging. Within a few years, water could flow to the south and money to the north.
The idea of building a water pipeline isn’t new. In 2006, the Environment Agency rejected the idea. It believed that the drought could be remedied by extending existing reservoirs, by building new ones in the southeast and by tackling water leakage. Our central planners’ solution proved woefully inadequate: hosepipe bans were in place in 2007, 2010 and 2011. And after the driest winter since 1972, we will see hosepipe bans this year, too.
Instead of overruling the Environment Agency, the Labour government made it easier to introduce hosepipe bans by way of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. Instead of streamlining the water supply, former environment secretary Hilary Benn opted for rationing.
The Environment Agency rejected pumping water from north to south for both financial and environmental reasons. The capital cost of a 560km pipeline from the northern Pennines to London (following the M6 and the M1) was estimated at between £9bn and £15bn; or between £8m and £14m for every million litres a day (Ml/d). This was four times more expensive than the cost of expanding water facilities in southeast England. The cost of a transfer from mid-Wales to London would be around £2.4m per Ml/d if the river Severn were to be used; and between £3m and £5m per Ml/d if done entirely by pipeline. It didn’t seem to occur to the Environment Agency that the capital cost of a pipeline can be spread over decades.
The Agency’s report contained sweeping statements about the environmental catastrophes-in-waiting from such a project: the impact on the local environment, downstream river flows and river habitat, the contribution to climate change from the energy, even the extra traffic and noise from construction were thrown in for good measure.
Such arguments are now irrelevant: the cheap option has failed. Yet another year of hosepipe bans should tell us that pipelines from north to south are unavoidable. It is an ambitious, costly project but it can secure the southeast’s water supply. Water bills in the south will go up to pay for it – but water metering means people are increasingly charged according to use. Gardeners who prefer a higher bill to a dying garden will be able to make that choice. It is a win-win only markets can achieve: the north will receive much-needed investment and revenue; the south water. And there might even be a few votes in it for David Cameron.
JP Floru is the author of What the Immigrant Saw, published by Bretwalda Books £9.99.