Drought fears after warmest April on record

The Government plans to hold a “water summit” next week to make sure the country is properly prepared for prolonged dry conditions.

This year saw the warmest April since proper records began in 1910, according to the Met Office. And those high temperatures were seen across the country.

We saw about half the rainfall we usually get in that month – just 53 percent of normal levels.

Surrey received just 4.4 per cent of its normal April showers, and was the driest place in the country.

But there is a regional divide. Across the west of Scotland and north west England there was more rain than normal.

Moving eastwards and into central England, however, there is less rainfall. And across the rainfall was less than 20 percent of average.

Surrey received just 4.4 per cent of its normal April showers and was the driest place in the country. Kent had its third driest April on record, with only 5.3mm in the whole month.

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It is bad news for Clive Baxter, a farmer in Kent who supplies Waitrose, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s with apples. He is worried he may lose his newly planted orchard of 15,000 trees.

Clive’s farm is not the only vulnerable one. For those who farm non-irrigated crops like wheat and barley, and shallow rooting crops like peas and linseed, the situation, is becoming critical.

Just under half UK reservoirs are at lower than normal levels for this time of year.

But across the fields at Clockhouse Farm, which grows strawberries and raspberries, the dry weather has actually been welcomed

Soft fruit farmer Robert Pascall told Channel 4 News he had seen a dramatic increase in the volume he was producing compared to the same week a year ago.

Lack of rain is also affecting our reservoirs. Just under half are at lower than normal levels for the time of year, according to the Environment Agency.

Despite the dry conditions, the water companies are convinced hosepipe bans of the type seen in 1976 won’t be repeated this summer. They put this down to extra investment in new reservoirs and desalination plants.

There is more concern about the impact of the lack of rain on our rivers. Flows are “exceptionally low” at the rivers Exe and Tamar, in the south west; at the Wye and other rivers in south Wales; and on the Meadway in Kent.

Warm weather means oxygen levels in the river start to drop – and as a result, fish come to the service.

In fact, water flows are below normal at virtually all the sites that monitored by the Environment Agency. And when river levels are low, the environment is less tolerant to pollution and other pressures.

Another impact of low flow and warm weather is that oxygen levels in the river start to drop. As a result, fish come to the surface – and can show signs of distress.

That, in turn, means more bad news for farmers. Some have already been asked by the Environment Agency to stop using river water to water and to irrigate late in the day or even at night to limit evaporation.