The Thames Water Abingdon Reservoir is the South East Strategic Reservoir Option (SESRO) being promoted by the Water Resources in the South East (WRSE) group (15 November 2022) to jointly supply water to the South East water companies of Affinity Water, Southern Water and Thames Water. It is not Thames Water’s reservoir, or indeed solely for Thames Water’s use.

Proposals

The proposal arose in 2006 by

Thames Water Thames Water Utilities Ltd, known as Thames Water, is a large private utility company responsible for the public water supply and waste water treatment in most of Greater London, Luton, the Thames Valley, Surrey, Gloucestershire, north Wiltsh ...

. In 2007 the Environment Agency opined that need for this was not proven. Further arguments were put but the near-term-demand case was rejected in 2011. Since 2018 a longer-term proposal stands, for its building, by 2043 to cater to projected population growth in the

Thames Basin The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

Reasons for the construction

The main reason to build is that the South-East is facing significant seasonal

water stress Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is where ...

. Factors are the rain shadow behind the prevailing westerly winds and

western hills The Western Hills () are the hills and mountains in the western part of Beijing. Geography Being an extension of the Taihang mountain range from the Hebei Province, the Western Hills cover approximately 17% of the Beijing municipality, inc ...

. Eastern counties lack the rainfall of the west; their average annual rainfall being 500-750mm. The west receives around 1800-2800mm. Average population density is higher in the eastern than western counties;

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

houses 13.5% of the UK's population. This is the greatest concentration of domestic water usage. Roughly 22% of water use is domestic; 75% is from all types of industry.

Counter-arguments

GARD or the 'Group Against Reservoir Development' have counter-arguments, local, national and looking at international comparators.http://www.abingdonreservoir.org.uk/ Group Against Reservoir Development. www.abingdonreservoir.org.uk *

have unambitious targets for leakages *The reservoir will be far from potent against long droughts *As there is enough water to supply London now there can be in future using other, sustainable methods. *Impacts on the ecosystem being transformed from supporting many endangered and protected land-based invertebrates, water voles, bats and hedgehogs to more water-based bird life. *Traffic congestion and construction pollution. *Local economic loss of many well-rooted businesses and a solar farm.East Hanney solar farm
/ref> *A new, low, risk of flooding.

Proposals

Reasons for the construction

Counter-arguments

References

See also