Drought-busting plan unveiled

Monday 17 June 2019

Preventative measures are being taken by Guernsey Water to protect the island, by cutting out the need for drought measures in the future for the next 25 years.

Guernsey Water wants to ensure that whatever weather the future may hold, Guernsey’s water sources and storage facilities are prepared and will be able to provide sufficient water. The Water Resources and Drought Management Plan is how they hope to secure this.

Currently Guernsey’s water supply remains in a healthy position with reservoirs being recorded at 97.45% full, despite May’s rainfall being 54% lower than the monthly seasonal average of the past decade.

In the event of severe drought conditions beyond the year 2025, a fine balance would have to be struck between water supply and demand. Such an event would require timely but temporary water restrictions, such as a hosepipe ban.

Guernsey Water does not expect such measures to be enacted more than once every 20 years. This is the line with most UK water providers and has been agreed upon by The Committee for the Environment & Infrastructure.

Unless the desired level of protection from drought changes, it is not expected that any investment into new water sources or expansion of the water resources system will be necessary over the next 25 years.

There remains a considerable amount of uncertainty beyond the year 2040 due to uncontrollable, external factors such as climate change and an expected increase in the severity and frequency of drought. As such, the current allocation of Les Vardes quarry for future water storage in the Island Development plan remains fitting and appropriate.

General Manager of Guernsey Water, Steve Langlois, says there is nothing to be concerned about at this stage since the investment over past decades has made Guernsey “very resilient to single-year droughts” having “a good level of resilience to droughts that last two years”.

“Guernsey residents should be reassured by the level of planning that we are undertaking. We have a well-developed and resilient water supply system including storage and distribution” he said.

Guernsey Water hope that their forward-looking plan will help understand and predict the likely changes in future demand and reliability of water supplies, as well as the actions necessary to keep a high standard of service for customers.

Guernsey Water provides safe to drink, reliable water to more than 22,400 households and 3,100 commercial customers.