WATER

In many ways, we see the most striking effects of climate change when it comes to water. Warming temperatures caused by man-made greenhouse gas emission mean melting ice caps, rising sea levels, changing ocean currents and extreme weather events. These in turn lead to both unpredictable droughts and flooding.. 

What can I do to combat water shortage?

  • Cut down on overall water use at home! Sign up to GetWaterFit where you can calculate your exact household water usage and get free water-saving devices

  • Three Rivers water provider Affinity Water has water-saving products for sale in the Save Water section of its website

  • By fixing dripping taps you could save over 5,500 litres of water a year. Water Safe is a free online search facility funded by the UK water industry for finding approved plumbers

In the Kitchen

  • Don’t overfill the kettle -- save water and electricity by only boiling enough water for your immediate use

  • Use a bowl to wash dishes or vegetables and put that ‘grey’ water on your plants afterwards

  • Use washing up water to rinse your recyclables, instead of clean water

  • Only run your washing machine and dishwasher with a full load 

  • If you’re buying a new appliance, make sure it has an Eco label and Eco settings for reducing  water and energy consumption.

In the Bathroom

  • Shorten your shower – aim for a four-minute shower. You can search online for free timers and water-saving shower heads

  • Avoid having too many baths and, when you do, don’t fill the bath up too much  -- a full bath uses around 80 litres of water

  • Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth and encourage the rest of your household to do the same 

  • Whenever you can, use the half flush button if you have a dual flush toilet. For lever-handle toilets, a Save a Flush device placed into the cistern can save 1.2 litres of water per flush -- that’s as much as 5,000 litres a year

  • Remember -- if it’s Yellow, let it Mellow, if it’s Brown, Flush it Down! 

In the Garden 

  • Hang up your hose – a dripping hose can use up as much water in an hour as an  average family of four uses in 36 hours. Or use a trigger hose, so you can control when water is released.

  • Water your plants using a watering can, either early in the morning or during the evening when it is cooler and there is less chance of water evaporating

  • Collect rainwater in a butt -- or as many as you can fit in your garden -- and use it to water the garden or wash the car

  • Let your grass grow longer dry periods to allow the dew to be trapped. Leave the lawn cuttings on the lawn – it will naturally return moisture and nutrients to the soil

  • Choose plants that thrive in dry conditions and use mulches like bark chips or gravel, which retain moisture as well as keeping weeds down

  • Move containers, hanging baskets and pots into shady areas where possible

  • When potting up planters, use containers made from glazed terracotta or wood, which lose less water than bare terracotta. 

  • Add a small amount of gel crystals to your plant pots, as they absorb water and can help retain the moisture in the soil. Consider burying a short length of pipe into your pot, so that water goes directly to the roots where the plant needs it most

What can I do when it comes to flooding?

  • Join or follow the activities of Rickmansworth and District Residents Association and the River Chess Association who work closely with Thames Water to prevent sewage discharges during flooding

  • You can also do your bit to reduce the likelihood of local flooding by using water-permeable materials in landscaping projects. Gravel or permeable block paving on drives allow water to percolate into the ground, whereas concrete doesn’t!

  • Look at using a soakaway for draining roof water from new extensions, rather than discharging extra water into the sewage system

How are water shortages and flooding affecting Three Rivers? 

Water shortages

The United Nations predicts that, by 2030, water scarcity will displace up to 700 million people around the world. Closer to home, Hertfordshire is included in an area designated by the UK government as being under ‘serious water stress’ -- one of the driest areas in the country.

There are few water storage facilities in our area and so abstraction -- pumping water out of rivers to serve local industry and household consumption -- happens on demand. This means that in dry summers, when rainfall and river levels are low anyway, demand for showers and garden watering is at its highest. This causes low flow in our local chalk streams, like the Chess, Gade and Colne, leading to drought in the surrounding countryside and harm to local species. Add to that the effects of global warming -- longer, drier summers and longer growing seasons for plants -- and that leaves a shorter and shorter winter recovery period when rivers can refill again from surrounding groundwater. 

This water shortage situation will only get worse as more houses are built, so everyone’s water use patterns need to change. Households served by the Chilterns chalk streams -- much of the Three Rivers District  -- use on average 170 litres of water per person per day. That’s 30 litres more than the national average and way above the government’s target of 105 litres per person per day. For anyone interested in the environmental impacts of our water use on local rivers, watch the excellent Chiltern Conservation Board talk on Chalk Streams, hosted by XR Chesham

Flooding

An estimated 1.8 million people in the UK are at significant risk of coastal, surface or river flooding and that number will be much higher in years to come. For the latest details, see the UK Climate Change Committee 

February 2020 was the wettest February on record for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and Three Rivers has seen worse flooding in recent years than ever before, as illustrated in this February 2021 Watford Observer news article

Many people aren’t aware that flooding also leads to contamination of our rivers by sewage discharge. With heavy rainfall, storage tanks at sewage facilities can get overloaded. Local water company Thames Water has been forced to release partially treated sewage back into the River Chess every winter/spring in recent years, including 2021. This is clearly disastrous for river health and it’s important not to wade in the river without checking water quality reports first. The River Chess Association publishes regular updates online and has information on Thames Water’s plans to invest £3 million over the next 4 years to improve the River Chess catchment area  

For anyone interested in the environmental impact of human activity and climate change on the River Chess, have a look at the ChessWatch Project. And check out Herts County Council’s Local Flood Risk Management Strategy