Drought in the UK, Southern England, 2012

Question 1

What were the causes of the drought?

Answer 1

• Dry winds from Europe rather than wet winds from Atlantic.
• 55-95% of the usual rainfall between April 2010 and March 2012.
• Warmer temperatures, so soils dried out and more water evaporated from reservoirs.
• Difficult for the rain to infiltrate into the ground.
• High water usage in homes, industry and farming. 1.7 billion litres used everyday.

Question 2

What were the consequences of the drought?

Answer 2

• Problems with farming.
• Dry areas of moorland caught fire easily.
• River water used to boost water supply, reducing river levels and increasing mortality of salmon and trout.
• Old trees or young specimens, with less-developed root systems, struggled to survive.
• Hosepipe bans meant around 20 million couldn’t use hosepipes.

Question 3

What were the responses to the drought?

Answer 3

• Permits allowed companies to extract water from rivers.
• Companies informed people to reduce their time in the shower to 4 minutes.
• Hosepipe bans issued on April 1st 2011.
• Campaigns to get ordinary people to use less water in the home.