By special request of lolimac

Here's the last bit of Bad News for this week, at the request of lolimac:D

Another extract from the Amateur Gardening Magazine:

Gardeners in Central, Eastern, and Southern Britain have been warned to brace themselves for hosepipe bans. The damp Christmas failed to provide sufficient rainfall to replenish depleted reservoirs.

Environmental Agency Chiefs said Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, parts of Bedfordshire and Norhthamptonshire, and West Norfolk were already in drought because of last year's dry Spring and Autumn. It warned that water shortages many lead to more drought permits while restrictions on public water supplies remain posssible.

South Eastern Water urged gardeners to invest in water butts and use rainwater. It's Ardingly Reservoir is just 37% full and Arlington is 60% full. Spokesman Lee Dance said it would take "prolonged rainfall over coming Winter months to return resources to normal" Anglian Water, which in November was granted a drought order to top up its Pitsford Reservoir [54% ful] with river water, has now been granted a second order by the Environmental Agency.

The Rutland reservoir is 62% full, but the order will allow it to extract water from the River Nene to top it up. Spokesman Ciaran Nelson said "the weather was recording breaking. The Environmental Agency says rainfall has been at it's lowest yearly level since 1921. Thames Water's Richard Alyard said "We don't get into a drought because of a dry week, month or year. Sixteen of the last 21 months have seen below average rain fall. There is a very real risk of a Summer drought.."

I'm doing Amateur Gardening Magazine an injustice by printing these extracts as it is a very good magazine full of really good advice and articles. Plus it's now giving away a free packet of seed with every weekly issue from now to Autumn. This week's free packet is Thompson and Morgan's Mesembryanthemums and next week it's T&M'S Coreopsis.

 

Thank you, Ziggy, my pal, my friend, for your "support".:WINK1::D Well, I don't think that us on the West Coast of Wales and Cheshire will fare all that badly as we do seem to get a reasonable amount of rain, although I must admit last year was dryer than normal.:D

 

I still can't find that Smiley with the Two Fingers:D

 

We don't appear to be anywhere near to producing desalination of water cheaply and cost effectively. If we could find a way in which to do that all our problems could be solved.:D

 

Here in Shineyland we've been in drought for a year .

I always think it's rubbish to encourage us to buy water butts. I've got three of them - but they're not very good at storing water :( without getting loads of rain. And if we had loads of rain we wouldn't need the water butts. Catch 22