09/01/12 A Drought In 2012? - Protect Kent

Despite the wet but mild Christmas period we have recently enjoyed, Protect Kent are still urging caution over predictions on whether we will be facing a drought in 2012.  Rainfall in December was at or above the expected average for the month, so some may believe our weather patterns have returned to normal.  But Protect Kent suggest that December’s showers may be merely a brief interlude in a constantly changing climate scenario, and it is still far too early to believe the threat of drought has passed us by.

Andrew Ogden, Campaigns Manager for Protect Kent, said:  “In 2011 we saw some rapid changes to rainfall patterns, which lead to some unusually long periods of dry weather.  Following a winter with low rainfall, we then enjoyed the driest spring – March to May – since records began in 1910.  Rain came later, in summer, just in time to save many of our parched crops, and then we moved into another three month period of very low rainfall.  By the end of November, the national press, Environment Agency and water companies were speculatively talking about drought measures for 2012.”

In fact, South East Water has already taken the first steps towards combating a possible drought, having been granted a Drought Order on 22nd December to refill their reservoir at Ardingly.  This had reached perilously low levels by the end of November, being just 12% full.

Andrew continued:  “To be very certain that we will not suffer a drought in the summer of 2012 we need to receive regular and normal rainfall over the next few months, possibly well into April.  The untypical weather of 2011, possibly another indicator of climate change, suggests that this ‘normal rainfall’ cannot be relied upon to appear.”

This situation reinforces Protect Kent’s argument for the countryside and its environment to be given greater priority in planning matters than housing and growth.  They are calling for appropriate and adequate infrastructure – including water resources – to be in place and operational before any development is allowed to progress.  Without such precautionary steps, demands on our limited resources will be ever increasing, with associated need for drought measures following periods of low rainfall becoming more likely.

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