Latest news with #watershortage
BBC News
12 hours ago
- Climate
- BBC News
Southern Water hosepipe ban for Hampshire to begin
A hosepipe ban for almost one million people in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight is due to come into effect. Southern Water announced the restriction last week due to "prolonged dry weather" to ensure sufficient supply and protect of chalk bans the use of a hosepipe for activities such as watering the garden, washing the car or filling a paddling on the company's Priority Services Register with medical or mobility needs, Blue Badge holders and those on the WaterSure tariff, are excluded from the ban. It follows bans from Yorkshire Water, Thames Water and South East flouting the restriction could be fined up to £1,000. The restrictions will apply to 791,000 customers in 336,000 properties in Hampshire as well as 144,000 customers in 75,000 properties on the Isle of can still use water for drinking, cooking, showering and washing clothes, as well as watering with a watering can or a can be used to clean animals and their areas, and provide them with water for Water said the restrictions would be in place until there was enough water in the reservoirs, rivers and underground aquifers to meet demand. The company said the River Test and Itchen chalk streams, which supply most of the water in the area, were at "critically low levels" and down 24% on normal flows for this time of director Tim McMahon apologised to customers and said: "Only by working together can we make sure there's enough water to go around for customers and the environment."More information on the restrictions can be found on Southern Water's company said it would advice its customers once the hosepipe ban was lifted. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
For the first time in modern history a capital city is on the verge of running dry
As the sun rises over Kabul's parched mountains, a family's daily struggle to find water – and to make it last – is about to begin. The sound of water tankers rumbling through Raheela's neighborhood in the Afghan capital prompts the 42-year-old mother of four to rush out to the street to fill her family's battered buckets and jerrycans. The family's supply is always running low, she says, and every liter is expensive, stretching nerves and their budgets to breaking point. 'We don't have access to (drinking) water at all,' Raheela, who goes by one name, told CNN. 'Water shortage is a huge problem affecting our daily life.' Kabul is inching toward catastrophe. It could soon become the first modern capital in the world to run completely dry according to a recent report by Mercy Corps, a non-government organization that warns the crisis could lead to economic collapse. Population growth, the climate crisis, and relentless over-extraction have depleted groundwater levels, experts say, and nearly half the city's boreholes have already gone dry. Raheela's family must pay for every drop of water, and watch how they use it carefully, sacrificing food and other essentials just to drink and bathe. 'We are deeply concerned,' she said. 'We hope for more rain, but if things get worse, I don't know how we'll survive,' she told CNN. It's an emergency that 'is not just a water issue,' warned Marianna Von Zahn, Mercy Corps' Afghanistan director of programs. 'It's a health crisis, an economic crisis, and a humanitarian emergency all in one.' A potent mix Just three decades ago, Kabul's population was less than 2 million, but the toppling of the Taliban in 2001 led to an influx of migrants, lured by the promise of increased security and economic possibility. As its population grew, so did the demand for water. Kabul relies almost entirely on groundwater, replenished by snow and glacier melt from the nearby Hindu Kush mountains. But years of mismanagement and over-extraction have caused those levels to drop by up to 30 meters over the last decade, according to Mercy Corps. Kabul now extracts 44 million cubic meters more groundwater each year than nature can replenish, Mercy Corps said, a staggering imbalance that's steadily draining the city's reserves and its residents' finances. Some families, like Ahmad Yasin's, have dug deeper wells, searching for more water to fill their buckets. Yasin, 28, lives in a joint family of 10 in the city's north. For months, he has queued along with his brother for hours every day at the nearby mosque, which has access to a big well, to bring full buckets home for his children, parents, nieces, and nephews. 'That was holding us back from our work and was affecting our income,' he said. So they saved for six months, sacrificing food, to come up with 40,000 Afghanis ($550) to dig a well in their backyard. Yasin and his brother dug 120 meters before they could find any water – and while this water is free to use for all their basic needs, they can't drink it. 'It's not safe,' he said. 'Since we spent all our money on the well, we cannot afford to buy a water filter or purified water. Hence, we boil the well water for extended periods of time, let it cool and then drink it.' Up to 80% of Kabul's groundwater is contaminated, according to Mercy Corps, a consequence of widespread pit latrine use and industrial waste pollution. Diarrhea and vomiting are 'problems people experience all the time in the city,' said Sayed Hamed, 36, who lives with his wife, three children and two elderly parents in the northwestern Taimani district. 'We often get sick due to contaminated water either by drinking in someone else's house, in a restaurant, or even by brushing our teeth with the well water,' the government worker said. The crisis is further compounded by Kabul's vulnerability to climate change. 'We are getting more and more rain, but less and less snow,' said Najibullah Sadid, a water resource management researcher and member of the Afghan Water and Environment Professionals Network. 'That's impacting a city which has less infrastructure to regulate the flash floods… Snow was helping us, but now we have less, and that's harming us in terms of groundwater recharge.' If current trends continue, UNICEF predicts Kabul could run out of groundwater by 2030. When water runs dry, many turn to tankers Those without the means to dig hundreds of meters for water are at the mercy of private companies or must rely on donations. Rustam Khan Taraki spends as much as 30% of his income on water, mostly buying from licensed tanker sellers. But for families who can't afford to spend this much, the only option is to walk often long distances to mosques, which can provide water. Dawn sees Hamed, the government worker, lining up for hours at a nearby well to fill two buckets for his family. During the day, two of his children – 13 and nine years old – line up for a refill, sometimes skipping school to carry heavy buckets up their steep hill in the scorching sun. The crisis is taking a toll on the children's future, said Von Zahn from Mercy Corps. 'The hours that children should be spending in school, they are now basically spending on fetching water for their families.' she said. 'These harmful coping strategies further deepen the cycle of poverty and vulnerability for women and children.' Women shoulder much of this crisis — forced to walk for hours across Kabul just to fetch what little water they can, risking their safety under the Taliban's oppressive rule which prohibits them from going outside without a mahram, or male guardian. 'It is not easy for a woman to go out, especially under the current circumstances where women need to have male company from her family to be able to go out,' a 22-year-old Kabul resident, who did not want to disclose her name for safety reasons, told CNN. 'There are numerous difficulties for every woman or girl to go out alone to get water. They could be harassed or bothered on the way,' she said. CNN has contacted the Taliban for a response. A dire future Beyond the climate crisis, population growth and mismanagement, Kabul's water crisis is compounded by deep political turmoil. The Taliban seized control of the country in August 2021 following the chaotic withdrawal of US-led forces after nearly two decades of war, tipping the country to the brink of economic collapse as development and security assistance to the country froze. Since then, humanitarian aid – aimed at funding urgent needs through non-profit organizations and bypassing government control – filled some of the gap. But US President Donald Trump's decision earlier this year to halt foreign aid has further set back the country with crippling consequences. The freeze in US Agency for International Development (USAID) funds is 'one of the biggest impacts,' said Von Zahn from Mercy Corps. By early 2025, only about $8 million of the $264 million required for water and sanitation had been delivered. 'So what we're seeing is a dangerous mix: collapsing local systems, frozen funding, and growing regional friction — all while ordinary Afghans face a worsening crisis every day,' she said. That leaves the future of many living in Kabul in limbo. Years ago, when Raheela and her family moved to their current neighborhood, the rent was cheaper, the mosque had water and life was manageable, she said. Now, she doesn't know how much longer they can survive in the city. 'We won't have any other choice but to be displaced again,' she said, 'Where will we go from here? I don't know.' Solve the daily Crossword
BBC News
3 days ago
- Climate
- BBC News
South East Water hosepipe and sprinkler ban comes into force
A hosepipe and sprinkler ban affecting more than 1.4 million people has come into East Water said demand for drinking water had reached "record levels" since May due to extended spells of warm and dry temporary ban will affect households in Kent, East Sussex and West Sussex, the firm the restrictions, people are prevented from using hosepipes for watering their gardens, washing cars, windows and patios, or filling swimming and paddling pools. David Hinton, South East Water chief executive officer, said: "Despite asking for customers' help to use water for essential uses only, regrettably, we've now been left with no choice but to introduce this temporary use ban."We continue to monitor the long term weather forecast, and will review this decision on a regular basis."Anyone flouting the restriction could be fined up to £1, firm said it saw the highest levels of water usage so far this year on 30 June, reaching 680 million litres - 105 million litres of water a day more than the average for said it continued to monitor the situation in its Western region, where it serves customers in parts of Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire.
The Sun
4 days ago
- Climate
- The Sun
Over 2.8million Brits can sidestep the hosepipe ban and may not even know it – check all the exceptions
MILLIONS of Brits can sidestep the many hosepipe bands springing up around the country – but may not know it. As much of England faces a blanket ban on using hosepipes to counter water shortages, there are a group of people who will avoid the penalty. 1 Southern Water is the latest company to announce a hosepipe ban – affecting almost one million customers – due to prolonged dry weather. The move will come into force for residents across much of Hampshire and all of the Isle of Wight from 9am on Monday, July 21. It will ban the use of a hosepipe for activities such as watering the garden, washing the car or filling a paddling pool. Managing director Tim McMahon apologised to customers and said: "Only by working together can we make sure there's enough water to go around for customers and the environment." Yorkshire Water, Thames Water and South East Water are also bringing in, or have brought in bans. Anyone who breaches the ban without permission from the water company could be fined up to £1,000. But anyone who holds a Blue Badge, issued by the government, can carry on using the watering method. More than 2.8million people currently have the badges, which can be displayed in vehicles. These are issued to people with disabilities or health conditions to allow them to park closer to their destination. They cost up to £10 in England, £20 in Scotland and are free in Wales. They usually last up to three years. Under regulations governing water companies and hosepipe ban enforcement, people who are registered disabled, Blue Badge holders or on a water companies' priority services register, are exempt from the ban. Rainfall across England was 20% less than the long-term average for June, which was also the hottest on record for the country, with two heatwaves driving unusually high demand for water, the Environment Agency has said. More heatwave conditions have followed in July, with the Met Office warning weather extremes such as heat have become the "norm" for the UK as a result of climate change driven by human activities such as burning fossil fuels. Drought was declared in East and West Midlands on Tuesday, July 15 with the region joining swathes of northern England in drought status. Yorkshire Water became the first major water company to bring in a hosepipe ban which came into effect on Friday, July 11. South East Water has announced a hosepipe ban in Kent and Sussex from July 18, and Thames Water is bringing in a ban from Tuesday, July 22 for customers in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, most of Wiltshire and some parts of Berkshire. Southern Water said restrictions would come in for households in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight from July 21. How do you qualify for a Blue Badge? You automatically qualify for a Blue Badge if you are aged 3 or over and at least one of the following applies: You receive the higher rate of the mobility component of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA). You receive a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) because you can't walk more than 50 metres (a score of 8 points or more under the 'moving around' activity of the mobility component). You are registered blind (severely sight impaired). You receive a War Pensioners' Mobility Supplement. You have received a lump sum benefit within tariff levels 1 to 8 of the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation) Scheme and have been certified as having a permanent and substantial disability that causes inability to walk or very considerable difficulty in walking. You receive the mobility component of PIP and have obtained 10 points specifically for descriptor E under the 'planning and following journeys' activity, on the grounds that you are unable to undertake any journey because it would cause you overwhelming psychological distress. If you have any score other than 10 points under descriptor E, in the 'planning and following journeys' activity of PIP you may still be eligible for a Blue Badge, but you do not automatically qualify. This includes if you have a higher score of 12. You will have to provide evidence to demonstrate your eligibility which will be assessed as part of your application. Other conditions and benefits also make a person eligible, including if you cannot walk at all or you cannot walk without help from someone else. Click here to find out more. SOURCE: UK Government.
BBC News
6 days ago
- Climate
- BBC News
Hosepipe bans: Has your area been banned from using hosepipes?
Hosepipe bans have been introduced across England, affecting millions of bans have been brought in by a number of water companies, after England experienced its second driest spring on record according to BBC has also been England's warmest June on latest hosepipe ban comes from a water company called Thames Water, and is said to effect 1.1 million customers in the south of England. Meanwhile, more English regions have announced they are experiencing a drought after the National Drought Group met on East and West Midlands have officially entered drought, joining the north west of England and Yorkshire who have already declared they are experiencing have always happened, but climate change and our growing use of water are raising the risks of water shortages, the Environment Agency what is a drought? And what is a hosepipe ban? Find out here. What is a drought? A drought is when there is a longer than expected period of dry weather, leading to a shortage of the UK, water is collected in places called help supply clean, fresh water to homes and businesses around the country throughout the if there is a long time with little to no rain, then reservoirs may not have enough water to go can read more about droughts and what they mean here. Why do water companies ban the use of hosepipes? When water supplies are very low, water companies may restrict how much water their customers can way to restrict water is to ban the non-essential use of are often used in homes to:water plantsclean cars and bikes fill up ponds or paddling of using garden hosepipes, customers are encouraged to use watering cans to water plants or buckets of water to wash cars and hope is these methods will use up less water than a hosepipe water companies may fine customers for using hosepipes during a ban. Which water companies have announced hosepipe bans? On Monday Thames Water announced a hosepipe ban, affecting 1.1 million hosepipe ban would start on 22 July in Swindon, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and parts of Water introduced the first hosepipe ban of the year, affecting 5 million customers on ban covers much of Yorkshire, parts of north Lincolnshire and parts of South East Water customers are preparing for a ban on 18 July affecting people in Kent and Sussex. What is happening in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland? As of Tuesday, there are no official droughts reported in Northern Ireland or Mid and South Ceredigion in west Wales say there is a risk of "developing drought".In Scotland, droughts are not declared. Instead, they monitor water levels. Parts of eastern Scotland have been affected by "moderate" water scarcity, meaning water levels are lower than usual.
