Almost all of England’s reservoirs have been pushed below-normal water levels, as the most parched parts of the country prepare for a sixth heatwave of the summer.
With several weeks of summer left to go and minimal rain forecast, a growing number of reservoirs are also reaching critically-low levels – including five now deemed “exceptionally low”.
There are even fears that the nation’s taps could run dry in future, amid concerns that new reservoirs will not be built quickly enough to deal with an increasing number of summer heatwaves.
A flight in Canada was cancelled after an unruly child refused to sit down and fasten their seatbelt.
What happened?
Where was the flight?
The Porter Airlines service left the terminal at Victoria International Airport in British Columbia and was heading for the runway.
Who was involved?
According to the airline, a parent and cabin crew had repeatedly tried to secure the child in their seat to no success.
What happened next?
The plane was forced to return to the gate so the parent and child could be removed.
What about the other passengers?
The airline said that remaining passengers also had to disembark while flight plans were refiled and other paperwork was completed. Passengers were stranded in British Columbia for the night due to the delays.
The airline apologised to the passengers who were inconvenienced on Thursday – and confirmed they were rebooked on a different flight the following day.
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What is false autumn – and is the UK currently having one?
Following months of exceptional heat, spells of cooler, wetter weather can create the false impression that autumn is underway.
Is the UK having a false autumn?
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What is a false autumn?
False autumn is a term used to describe a temporary spell of cooler, wetter weather during late summer.
A false autumn often follows a prolonged period of hot, dry conditions.
The sudden change in weather from hot and dry to cold and wet can make the change feel more dramatic than it is.
Why do false autumns happen?
- Extended periods of high pressure are often responsible for heatwaves.
- Eventually, these blocking patterns weaken, allowing Atlantic weather systems to return.
- As cooler air replaces the hot continental air, temperatures can fall noticeably within a day or two, accompanied by showers, stronger winds and lower temperatures.
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Is the UK having a false autumn?
While we are seeing a temporary dip into cooler, wetter weather early this week, the UK is still expected to see another huge spike in heat as the week goes on.
Some forecasts have predicted spells of rain in even the driest parts of the UK this weekend, however, it’s too soon to know if this will happen.
A closer look at the detail
While we may experience cooler temperatures for a time, August remains one of the warmest months of the year in the UK, with characteristic highs of 30°C.
There is also a chance we may experience a spell of unusually warm, settled weather during early autumn, often referred to as an ‘Indian summer’.
The airport parking change that’s catching Britons out
UK ariports are now using automatic number plate recognition to track how long you park for and how much you owe.
What is the new system?
- Birmingham, Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton, Manchester and Stansted are among the airports now using the new system.
- There are no barriers prompting you to pay, so you’ll have to remember to pay online or by phone.
- The deadline to pay is midnight the following day at most airports.
- Failure to pay on time can net a parking charge ranging from £80 to £100.
- However, the fine is reduced if paid in 14 days.
Are the fines legal?
- 1A King’s Counsel at a London chambers didn’t pay Heathrow’s new £5 fee when dropping off his daughter last year.
- 2The following night, he realised he’d forgotten to pay and was threatened with an £80 fine.
- 3He attempted to appeal against the fine but parking firm APCOA, which runs the system for Heathrow, turned down his appeal and appointed a debt agency to recover the money.
- 4The parking firm dropped the fine before the challenge went to court.
How to appeal a charge
Which? says you should first appeal via the operator that issued the parking charge. If this doesn’t work, you can contact the free Parking on Private Land Appeals (POPLA) service within 28 days of rejection.
Before arriving at some airports, you can also register for an autopay account, which automatically charges your card – but you should always check how much you’ve been charged at any barrierless car park.
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How cutting exercise drives up likelihood of cancer
According to new research, dropping even just a few minutes of vigorous exercise every day can push up the risk of cancer.
Here is everything you need to know.
What are the risks?
Experts have found that swapping exercise for more sedentary behaviour – such as watching an episode of a TV soap opera or sitting at a desk – drives up the cancer risk by up to 15 per cent.
They also warned that people who have been active during their lives should do all they can to maintain exercise, as even small drops in activity can affect health.
What does the research show?
What was studied?
The research, published in , looked at people’s lifestyles to find the link between exercise cancer risk.
Who was studied?
The analysis included 59,218 people (55 per cent female) with an average age of 61.7 from the UK.
The outcome
The research found that the more people moved, the lower their risk of cancer.
What can you do to reduce the risk?
- 1Replacing 15 minutes of sedentary behaviour with 15 minutes of movement were each linked to a 2 per cent reduced risk of cancer.
- 2Swapping 30 minutes of movement for 30 minutes of sedentary behaviour increased the risk by 8 per cent.
- 3While swapping it for sleep increased the risk by 7 per cent.
The expert view
The take-home message is that for people already leading physically active lives, it’s really important to maintain that level of activity as you get older.
Dr John Mitchell, lead author from University College London
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announces decision to freeze eggs
New York Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has revealed that she has decided to freeze her eggs.
What happened?
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), 36, has announced she is going to freeze her eggs and will be sharing the process online.
The congresswoman revealed her decision to undergo fertility treatment in a series of Instagram stories this weekend. “This is a choice that I am making to feel more in control of my life,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
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Why is AOC sharing her journey publicly?
I think it’s important for us as leaders to have these conversations and share these processes.
In an interview on , Ocasio-Cortez also said she wanted to “normalise” conversations about the process, adding that it was important “especially in this political environment”.
Ukraine launches ‘massive’ drone attack more than 600 miles inside Russia
Ukraine has launched a deadly drone attack on a major Russian oil refinery, the regional authorities have said.
What happened?
Ukraine launched a drone attack on a major Russian oil refinery in the Tatarstan region, more than 600 miles into the country.
The mayor of Nizhnekamsk, Radmir Belyayev, now says at least 12 people have been killed and a further 39 injured in the attack on the city.
Watch the fallout from the attack on the Russian oil refinery
Recent attacks on Russian oil
The TANECO refinery, owned by Russian oil company Tatneft, is located in Nizhnekamsk and was also hit by Ukraine in early June.
On 6 July, Kyiv struck Russia’s biggest oil refinery in Omsk – more than 1,500 miles from the Ukrainian border – and forced it to halt operations.
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Almost three-quarters of England – 71.3 per cent – is now in drought after four more regions were given the official designation on Monday.
Around 45 million people are living in drought areas after the East Midlands, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, Kent and East Sussex, and Solent and the South Downs were added by officials. All of Wales is already in drought.
Over 27 million people are now living under hosepipe bans and other restrictions on water use. One water firm is preparing a ban on car washes and private swimming pools.
The 12 driest reservoirs
This year’s aridity has brought back memories of the cracked ground at empty reservoirs during the infamous summer of 1976. Shortages got so bad that water had to be rationed, with taps turned off for certain periods.
Five reservoirs are now classed as being “exceptionally low” by the Environmental Agency – including the Somerset sites of Wimbleball and Blagdon, running at just 50 per cent and 54 per cent respectively.
Hanningfield reservoir in Essex is at 60 per cent. The Dove group reservoir in Derbyshire and Clywedog in mid-Wales are also running exceptionally low water levels.
Another seven reservoirs have “notably low” levels of water – including Blithfield in Staffordshire, Derwent Valley in Derbyshire and the Lower Thames group near London.
Reservoir storage across England has continued to decline in recent weeks, falling to 69 per cent – which is 12 per cent below the long-term average for this time of year.
‘Taps could run dry again’
Hayley Fowler, a professor of climate change impacts at Newcastle University, warned: “We’re entering an era of water extremes: more floods in winter, more droughts in summer, and not enough storage to bridge the gap.
“If we don’t act now, the taps that ran dry in 1976 could run dry again. This drought isn’t just about a lack of rain.”
Fowler said there must be urgent action taken to preserve water supplies because of “ageing infrastructure and too much water being lost through leaks”.
Water demand is higher than usual during periods of hot weather, following record-breaking heatwaves, with almost no rainfall since the spring leaving reservoirs unreplenished.
Fowler said the UK needs to treat water security “as seriously as energy security, because once reservoirs run low, there’s no quick fix”.
“The Climate Change Committee points to even more serious water shortages, with England alone facing a public water supply shortfall of around five billion litres per day by 2055,” he added.
“The warning is clear: climate change is increasing drought risk faster than we’re adapting our water infrastructure.”
Experts said there must be short-term solutions. This year, any critical water shortages from low reservoirs could likely be compensated by water brought in from elsewhere, but this may not always be the case.
Farmers have warned of a “brutal harvest” for crops as they struggle to access enough water. There have been warnings of food price inflation shocks later in the year as a searing summer across Europe feeds through from fields to supermarket shelves.
Water restrictions have been tightened on farmers, who are facing lower crop yields this summer. They must apply for licences allowing them to abstract water from rivers so that they can irrigate crops.
Daniel Johns, managing director at Water Resources East, a membership organisation made up of 200 groups, said some farmers are pushing for more on-site reservoirs.
This could make farms, which require large amounts of water, more self-sufficient in the event of drought.
But looking ahead to the rest of the summer, Johns said the outlook is not particularly hopeful.
“There doesn’t seem to be any respite in the forecast for now. Even if there is rain, it would take a while now for it to replenish reservoirs,” he said. “It’s a clear sign that climate change is in the here and now.”
Water minister Emma Hardy said on Monday that the Government was working to make it easier for farmers to build more onsite irrigation reservoirs and was pushing to deliver nine new reservoirs.
Tackling the five billion litre shortfall
As Fowler pointed out, at current supply levels, England is forecast to be in a five billion-litre daily water deficit by 2055. The nine new reservoirs being built to address the massive shortfall, set for completion by 2050.
But the recent drought has raised fears these projects may not happen fast enough – potentially taking decades to go through planning, construction and then fill up the reservoirs.
The i Paper understands that the new reservoirs cannot be built any quicker, despite heightened worries around the UK’s drought resilience.
But there will also be 30 major infrastructure projects aiming to increase water supplies before the 2050 target, including water recycling and desalination plants.
In the worst-case scenario, water companies can issue “emergency drought” orders and limit the number of hours that households’ taps can be turned on.
South East Water said earlier in August that water supplies in some areas were “critically low”, warning customers they could lose supply unless demand dropped.
It comes as the Met Office considers issuing rare amber or red extreme heat warnings for parts of the country that are set to see temperatures of 36°C or higher later this week.
Some 27 million households are currently living with hosepipe bans. Southern Water has applied for a non-essential use ban which would stop businesses from washing cars or filling swimming pools.