Drought in Bamford, Derbyshire (Image: Getty)
The government has issued a bizarre plea for the public to delete old emails and photographs - claiming it will help the nation cope with drought caused by soaring temperatures. Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf delivered a blunt response, saying: “Britain is being run by morons.”
A statement published jointly by the Environment Agency, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and MP Emma Hardy, the Minister for Water, outlined steps the public can take to help Britain deal with the driest six months to July since 1976. Measures included: “Delete old emails and pictures as data centres require vast amounts of water to cool their systems.”
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The reference to pictures appeared to mean photographs stored in “cloud” internet systems.
Five regions are officially in drought - Yorkshire, Cumbria and Lancashire, Greater Manchester Merseyside and Cheshire, East Midlands, and the West Midlands.
Other regions have experienced “prolonged dry weather”, which is the phase before being in drought. They are the Northeast, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, East Anglia, Thames, Wessex, Solent and South Downs.
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The National Drought Group, which includes the Met Office, government, regulators, water companies, the National Farmers’ Union, Canal & River Trust, anglers, and conservation experts, met on Monday to discuss the response.
So far, Yorkshire Water has a hosepipe ban in place for all its customers while Thames, South East Water, and Southern Water have postcode-specific bans.
Responding to the statement, former Reform chair Mr Yusuf said: “Good news everyone. The government’s ‘National Drought Group” met and have instructed us all to save water by ... deleting your old emails.
“Your taxpayer money is paying for this.”
Other measures the public can take to help, according to the statement, include:
Install a rain butt to collect rainwater to use in the garden.Fix a leaking toilet – leaky loos can waste 200-400 litres a day.Use water from the kitchen to water your plants.Avoid watering your lawn – brown grass will grow back healthy.Turn off the taps when brushing teeth or shaving.Take shorter showers.
Water Minister Emma Hardy said: “Working with the National Drought Group, the Government is urgently stepping up its response to ensure we are successfully managing the impacts of ongoing dry weather.
“Water companies must now take action to follow their drought plans - I will hold them to account if they delay.
“We face a growing water shortage in the next decade. That’s why we are pushing ahead with root and branch reform under our Plan for Change, which includes ￡104 billion of private investment to build nine reservoirs and new pipes to cut leaks.”
Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office, Dr Will Lang said: “This week is starting off warmer than of late across England and Wales with temperatures getting towards the mid-30s Celsius for some in the south.
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“While conditions remain mostly settled across the south, the picture is more unsettled further northwest, with rain or showers at times.
“As we move into the second half of August, there are indications of high pressure building and therefore largely settled conditions overall. Although dry weather is more likely, rain, showers or thunderstorms cannot be ruled out.”
Reservoirs fell by 2% last week and are now 67.7% full on average across England. The average for the first week of August is 80.5%. Last month, the average was 75.6%.
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