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Abstraction – Environment Agency Claim Success

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Tighter restrictions on abstraction licences have boosted the health of more than 590 miles of river across England and Wales according to Environment Agency figures just released.


The EA say 55 billion litres of water a year have been returned to the environment as a result of the licence restrictions - equivalent to the domestic usage of 850,000 people. A further 210 sites are targeted for action as part of the Agency's ‘Restoring Sustainable Abstraction’ program and it has funding to improve 150 sites by 2015.


Minister Richard Benyon said:

"We have seen over the last year the problems that a lack of water can create; environmental damage caused when rivers run low, farmers unable to irrigate their crops and some water companies taking steps to protect water supplies.

These figures demonstrate the Environment Agency's success in restoring our rivers to protect them for future generations, but we will need to continue to take action to ensure our rivers keep flowing."


Ian Barker, head of water, land and biodiversity at the Environment Agency, said:

"Water is a precious resource and we have to use it wisely. The amount of water used by business and people is directly linked to the amount water there is in our rivers for fish and other wildlife. The Environment Agency works to balance the water needs of people, business, farmers and the environment."







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Comments (6 posted):

amushroom on 28/01/2012 06:41:40
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tighter restrictions have resulted in improved health for more than 595 miles of river a step in the right direction, but 595 out of how many miles 55 billion litres of water have been returned to the environment compare that with the 96 billion litres of sewage that thames water admit to putting in one river, in one year, the thames mr benyon trotted out the expected nondescript response mr barker stated the obvious none of them mention the long term trend for increased water usage in the south, the predicted and current increase in solar activity, our neighbouring planets are also warmer why is it that planning for terrorist attacks, is so detailed they can work out how many shoelaces are required but continual water shortage in parts of the south, cant be fixed by moving water from the wettest areas, via existing canals/rivers
Peter Jacobs on 28/01/2012 07:34:46
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but continual water shortage in parts of the south, cant be fixed by moving water from the wettest areas, via existing canals/rivers Sounds like a good idea, so water from the Trent can be transported to the affluent South so that owners can continue to wash their expensive cars - it would have to be well 'filtered' though first I'd imagine . . . . . . . LOL
john conway (CSG - ACA) on 29/01/2012 11:38:21
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What I would like to know; are the EA figures for abstraction the results of reducing quotas because companies have not used their allocated quota, because they overestimated their requirements to be on the safe side? If you reduce a quota because it has not been used you can’t say you have reduced the actual amount of water abstracted. The other problem, not of the EA’s making but the Goverments, is our water companies are now publically owned and public own companies are not willing to make investments with pay backs of 20 or more years. It’s more cost effective to abstract in the short term. With very high unemployment, companies are always going to get abstraction licences if they argue they need to keep cost down to survive or expand, thus creating more jobs. Unless the government can encourage companies to move north again, the situation in the south is going to get far worse regarding water shortages.
stu_the_blank on 29/01/2012 16:07:23
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not of the EA’s making but the GovermentsJohn, the EA are a Government Department, there is no difference. The elephant in the room is the population of the South East, I understand that we get less rainfall (in a normal year) per head than Iraq. Stu
cg74 on 29/01/2012 23:40:27
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So will the EA impose realistic limits on Bitish Waterways usage, before they drop their Quango status, or will their gross misuse of water go unchecked for a few more years??? Hmm I wonder...:(:mad:
amushroom on 30/01/2012 08:05:21
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aint gotta clue how long the south east of this country has attracted residents for, but it seems no amount of elected representatives has or wants to change it rather than flitting around the edges, bite the bullet and admit we're full up, or plan accordingly, but if our services nationwide, are owned by corporations who dont like planning to far ahead because of possible profit generation uncertainties therein lie the problems our elected representatives fail us all, regularly the companies supplying the essentials of our lives fail us regularly and it aint anyones fault, poppycock our elected representatives are to busy not upsetting the major corporations in our world, so that they can find a nice job when they leave politics the war crimminal, former pm tony blair is probably the best example, his personal wealth since retiring from politics and becoming a special envoy to the middle east, has hit the stratosphere wonder why he weren't special envoy to somalia our own wonderful former mp for reading, mr salter, trumpeted by many as a returning angling apostle, couldn't wait to get a job with thames water, the countries biggest continual polluter nuffins gonna change because these people are held up as solutions to the problems, whereas the problem is that their behaviour and moral standards, reinforces these problems if you've all really got the hump, with all these recurring debacles, then have a peek at magna carta, article 61 it states in no uncertain terms that it is our civic duty to end these practises, and instructs the populace to rebel no revolting, but a fully legal rebellion I'll go back to the dark now and eat my poo


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