Just over 200 years ago, William Blake wrote of England’s ‘great and pleasant land’ in the poem that would later be set to music as the hymn Jerusalem.
Fast forward to the 21st century and the green and pleasant land, and its people, are in danger of becoming parched.
This week ministers admitted that the country could run out of drinking water within 10 years as they unveiled plans to fast-track the building of two new reservoirs.
Astonishingly, they will be the first new man-made bodies of water created for human consumption in more than three decades.
There are fears that, without action, demand for drinking water could outstrip supply by the mid-2030s due to rapid population growth, crumbling assets, Nimby opposition and a warming climate.
And that population growth is set to be fuelled by immigration.
The UK population is projected to reach 72.5 million by mid-2032, up 4.9 million from 67.6 million in mid-2022, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The jump of 4.9 million is projected to be driven almost entirely by net migration, with natural change – the difference between births and deaths – projected to be around zero due to the aging population.
Beyond 2032, the population is projected to continue to grow and pass 75 million in 2041.
Writing for Mail Online today, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Water doesn’t lie. It’s a basic test of whether a country can support the people in it, and Britain is failing that test because Labour refuses to confront reality.
‘The only serious solution is to tackle immigration head-on.
On Thursday The Environment Agency (EA) said Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire, and Cumbria and Lancashire, moved from ‘prolonged dry weather’ to ‘drought’ status.
‘We cannot keep adding the pressure and pretending the system will hold. We cannot build our way out of a problem we refuse to name. Until we slash migration numbers, the shortages will only get worse.’
Last week, official figures showed net migration to the UK had halved to 431,000 last year compared with 860,000 across January to December 2023.
This was after reaching a record high of 906,000 in the 12 months to June 2023.
But although net migration is predicted to continue to fall in the years to come, the home-grown population is predicted to also shrink, as deaths outweigh births.
It means that while the rate of population growth may slow, it is expected to inexorably climb.
While politicians have long claimed immigration will have an impact on services such as housing, schools and the NHS, where everyone will get their drinking water has remained largely out of the spotlight until now.
In England this year, the North West and North East both saw their driest start to a calendar year since 1929, while the country as a whole endured its driest February to April period since 1956.
On Thursday The Environment Agency (EA) said Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire, and Cumbria and Lancashire, moved from ‘prolonged dry weather’ to ‘drought’ status.
Water companies in England have committed to bringing new reservoirs online, in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Suffolk, Kent, East Sussex and the West Midlands, with the potential to supply 670 million litres of extra water per day. But they are not expected to be ready until 2050.
The Fen Reservoir project between Chatteris and March in Cambridgeshire is set to supply 87 million litres a day to 250,000 homes, and to be completed in 2036.
The scene in Sneedhams Green in Matson, Gloucester, after a water main pipe burst earlier this month. Last year a report by the Environment Agency found that almost a fifth (19 per cent) of water supplies are lost by water companies before reaching customers’ taps.
In England this year, the North West and North East both saw their driest start to a calendar year since 1929, while the country as a whole endured its driest February to April period since 1956.
The Lincolnshire reservoir south of Sleaford would provide up to 166 million litres a day for up to 500,000 homes, operational by 2040.
It is the latter two that ministers have now designated as ‘nationally significant’, taking planning responsibility out of the hands of local politicians in order to streamline and fast-track them.
Speaking to Times Radio Environment Minister Emma Hardy said: ‘We’ve been in an infrastructure crisis because we haven’t built the reservoirs that we need.
‘In fact we built no reservoirs for the past 30 years. If we don’t take action we are going to be running out of the drinking water that we need by the mid-2030s.
‘This is why the Government’s taking unprecedented action to make these reservoir projects… into projects that are nationally significant projects.
‘This means the planning process is taken away from the local authority. The power is put into the hands of the Secretary of State… to make sure that we deliver them.
‘It means that we can unlock tens of thousands of new homes and we can make sure that everybody has the drinking water that they desperately need.’
A lack of water supplies is also holding back the construction of thousands of homes in parts of the country such as Cambridge, officials have warned. Labour has a target of building 1.5 million new homes by 2029.
England could run out of drinking water within the next 10 years without building new reservoirs, water minister Emma Hardy has warned
But demands from migrant-fueled population growth is not the only problem. Last year a report by the Environment Agency found that almost a fifth (19 per cent) of water supplies are lost by water companies before reaching customers’ taps.
This figure was down 10 percentage points since 2018 but the agency said
By 2050, in order to support a growing population, the economy, food production and protect the environment, an extra five billion litres of water will be needed every day.
Andy Brown, its water regulation manager, said: ‘Drought is a naturally occurring phenomenon. As we see more impacts from climate change heavier rainfall and drier summers will become more frequent. This poses an enormous challenge over the next few decades.
Prof Hayley Fowler, professor of climate change impacts at the University of Newcastle, said the dry and drought conditions the UK was experiencing were consistent with what was expected from climate models, especially in the summer months.
‘With global warming we expect more prolonged and intense droughts and heatwaves punctuated by more intense rainfall, possibly causing flash floods.
‘In recent years, we have experienced more of these atmospheric blocks, causing record heat and persistent drought,’ she said.
‘We are a northern European nation not short of rain … this should be a wake-up call for the government, says Chris Philp
This week, ministers admitted that parts of Britain could run out of drinking water within a decade. Let that sink in.
We are a northern European nation not short of rain. We are certainly not an arid and sandy desert land. Yet apparently we can’t guarantee water will come out of the tap. This should be a wake-up call for the government.
And we know what drives demand for water: people do.
So it is very relevant that for decades the British people have demanded, and politicians have promised, dramatically lower immigration. But for decades, successive governments, including the last one, have failed to deliver that. That failure has undermined faith and trust in democracy itself. It is now time to actually deliver what the public want.
Under new leadership, the Conservative Party has recently brought forward a number of serious, credible and detailed plans to tackle immigration – all of which Labour voted against in Parliament in the past few weeks.
We know what drives demand for water: people do. So it is very relevant that for decades the British people have demanded, and politicians have promised, dramatically lower immigration.
While homes go unbuilt, schools burst at the seams, and A&Es overflow, Labour’s answer is to import more people and deny there’s even a problem.
The Home Secretary admitted Labour’s plans will only bring down net migration by microscopic 50,000 a year – nowhere near enough of a reduction.
It is no surprise the Labour Government is failing to take action – Starmer once absurdly claimed immigration puts no strain on public services.
Tell that to the families in waiting for a doctor’s appointment, to the councillors facing impossible housing targets, or to the water companies now forced to warn that we may not have enough to go round.
The government’s target of building 300,000 homes per year would only cover net migration at 170,000 per year.
Instead, Labour’s housebuilding target could result in five out of seven new homes going to migrants. What about the British people who want to get on the housing ladder?
Naturally, more people means more demand for water. Every person who arrives needs showers, sinks, sanitation. The more pressure we put on the network, the faster it fails, and the harder it becomes to plan or build for the future.
And Labour’s solution has not been to tackle the influx but rather to crush any local objections and build two giant reservoirs for 10 and 15 years’ time.
When the Conservatives recently brought forward a plan to slash immigration Labour torpedoed it using their huge Parliamentary majority.
We put forward measures to implement automatic deportations of foreign criminals and illegal migrants; to end the human rights madness that stops us controlling our borders; and to create a binding annual cap on migration which is much, much lower than the numbers we have seen in recent years.
Water doesn’t lie. It’s a basic test of whether a country can support the people in it, and Britain is failing that test because Labour refuses to confront reality.
The only serious solution is to tackle immigration head-on. We cannot keep adding the pressure and pretending the system will hold. We cannot build our way out of a problem we refuse to name. Until we slash migration numbers, the shortages will only get worse.
