Unprecedented: The usually green lawn behind Greenwich in London, which is so popular with tourists, is yellow due to the heat. Millions of people in southern England have now been prevented from watering their gardens, washing their cars or washing their windows due to another heat wave expected to hit the island nation. Starting at 5 p.m. Friday, residents of Hampshire County and the Isle of Wight will be placed under a “temporary lockdown.”
If they violate this, they can expect a fine of more than 400,000 HUF.
With fewer teams this year and a record heat wave in July, levels in England’s rivers and reservoirs have fallen dramatically. In Gloucestershire, the source of the Thames has “moved” by 7 and a half kilometres, which the Rivers Trust, a campaign organization dealing with the protection of rivers, called unprecedented.
A water company in southern England said it had to apply for special permission from the Environment Agency to continue extracting water from River Test, which supplies fresh water to Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Southern Water is now asking customers in affected areas to reduce their water consumption “to avoid further restrictions”. According to the company, the irrigation ban may remain in place until “enough rain falls to bring the rivers levels back to normal.”
A week later, a similar ban will be in place in the counties of Kent and Sussex, also in southern England.
As The Independent noted, critics were quick to note in the company’s annual report last year
95,000 hectoliters of water are ‘wasted every day’ due to leaks.
Activist Fergal Sharkey told the BBC: “It’s not about a drought, it’s about a lack of investment deferred for years, bad management and a regulatory system that has completely betrayed clients.”
On the other hand, the company defended itself by saying that its customers had the hottest July since 1891, in which case people used more water. “We just want to protect our precious and precious flows and make sure it doesn’t go down too much. That’s why we’re asking our customers to limit their consumption,” said Katie Taylor, the company’s director of customer service, somewhat sentimental.
The ban, therefore, is not really a ban, but a recommendation: but anyone who spectacularly ignores it – and is reported by his neighbors – can be cited and fined £1,000.
Meanwhile, the British Meteorological Institute announced: Not much rain is expected in the already dry areas of England, while the temperature will rise above 30 degrees again next week.
OPENING PHOTO: MTI/AP/Matt Dunham
