Tourists and residents could face water rationing in Cornwall if the local utility can’t expedite the opening of new treatment facilities. I it was said.
South West Water is rushing to complete two new desalination plants to turn seawater into drinking water as the country’s main reservoir on Bodmin Moor is less than half full despite winter rains.
This was due to travel agency executives holding talks to develop contingency plans in case a dry spring or summer comes and risers cannot be ruled out.
Malcolm Bell, CEO of Visit Cornwall, announced this. I: “Standards and water rationing is the worst case scenario, but we have to be ready for it.”
He added: “We are concerned, but we are not panicking yet. I know that South West Water is looking for all sorts of emergency plants and I also know that it can rain heavily in March, April and May in Cornwall so let’s hope so.
“We must hope that it will be wet in the coming months and that the desalination plants will be ready by the end of the summer.
“However, it wouldn’t be good news for Cornwall if water shortages were scaring off tourists, so given climate change, we should probably prepare for a future with desalination plants.”
South West Water has already launched the Save Every Drop campaign across the county ahead of an expected 1.5 million visitors over Easter and throughout the summer.
The company acknowledged that water resources in the region are under “tremendous and growing pressure” as residents can expect the water supply to their homes to be temporarily cut off if there is not enough rain in the coming weeks.
Colliford – Cornwall’s largest reservoir – stood at 48.9% at the end of February and is now dropping with just over a month left until Easter.
The EPA has officially classified Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly as experiencing “drought” since last summer.
Andrew George, District Councilor and former Liberal Democrat MP for St Ives, said: I: “I think it’s very unlikely that the province won’t have to deal with some form of rationing this summer.
“The water level in the reservoir is very low, and since last summer we have had a formal drought. Another hot summer would make some form of rationing inevitable.”
Mr George added: “Over the past 30 years, South West Water has pumped money into the pockets of its shareholders and executives by printing money without risk.
“Now they are still dumping sewage on our shores and after so many years they have not taken care that we have enough clean drinking water. It’s outrageous”.
David Harris, director of drought and resilience at South West Water, said the water level “was not where we would like it to be” and that the water supply at this time of the year is typically 70 to 80 percent.
At the same time last year, the Colliford Reservoir was 80 percent full, but during last summer’s heat wave the level dropped to just 15 percent, the lowest level on record.
Mr Harris added: “The water resources of the Southwest are under tremendous and growing pressure.
“Our current system is heavily dependent on rainfall and climate change has shown us the importance of developing climate independent water resources in Cornwall.”
Mr. Harris added: “We continue to take all necessary steps to carefully manage water resources, eliminate leaks, invest in new capacity and plan for all possible outcomes.
“As part of this planning, we are looking into potential desalination sites in Cornwall. These locations, along with our wider supply chain, will be used as needed to support other resources.”
Desalination plants have already been built on the Isles of Scilly and the Channel Islands. There is another in London on the Thames, but Thames Water was criticized last year for “virtually mothballing” the facility despite dry conditions.
With just 600,000 permanent residents, Cornwall’s population doubles in the hottest three months of the year and local politicians fear the influx will mean locals and holidaymakers face water rationing measures if desalination plants are not up and running by the summer peak .
More than a third of Cornwall’s drinking water could come from desalination if plans to build two plants go ahead, South West Water said.
Two plants planned on the south coast of Cornwall will produce about 60 million liters per day. Cornwall uses 170 million liters of water per day, meaning that over a third of that water could come from desalination plants.
South West Water has yet to announce the two locations for the plants, but has admitted it won’t be ready if tourist numbers rise significantly over Easter or if hundreds of thousands of people visit the country every month for the summer holidays.
A spokesman for South West Water said: “We are working to have the plants up and running by the end of summer 2023 and are working closely with the EPA and Cornwall Council to achieve this ambitious goal.
“In the meantime, we recently launched our ‘Save Every Drop’ campaign to encourage customers and visitors to the area to reduce their water use wherever possible.”
The water company also acknowledged that the lack of clean water could spread to neighboring Devon.
The spokesman added: “While we are not currently planning any desalination plants for Devon, we are planning infrastructure solutions that will allow us to move more water between Cornwall and Devon if necessary.
“We are grateful to all of our customers and communities for their efforts to reduce their daily water consumption over the past few months, and we encourage them to continue doing so.”
The company is also currently under investigation by regulator Ofwat for the management of its wastewater treatment plant.
The group said it has further invested more than £45 million in new water resilience programs to connect new water sources.
While some studies claim that desalinated water can be unhealthy, South West Water said it will conduct tests on approximately 400 parameters to ensure that “our final purified water is free of harmful particles and meets the standards set by our water regulator.
“Any desalinated water that is added to us goes through the same testing to make sure it meets the high standards required for drinking water,” the spokesman added.
Source: I News
I’m Raymond Molina, a professional writer and journalist with over 5 years of experience in the media industry. I currently work for 24 News Reporters, where I write for the health section of their news website. In my role, I am responsible for researching and writing stories on current health trends and issues. My articles are often seen as thought-provoking pieces that provide valuable insight into the state of society’s wellbeing.