Below is the response from Portsmouth Water to Gillian's enquiries on the June 21
Dear Gillian
Thank you for your e-mail.
Attached to this response is an e-mail we received directly from [removal of personal data] and the response I made to her yesterday.
In my response I explained that as a naturally ephemeral chalk stream, the flow in the Ems is very dependent upon groundwater levels. As you will recall, the winter and spring just passed were very dry. In fact the Environment Agency are reporting locally that; “the total rainfall for the last seven months (November to May inclusive) was the 5th driest on record (dating back to 1891)”. The EA’s local water situation report (link below) is a really useful summary of prevailing conditions. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1082083/Solent_and_South_Downs_Water_Situation_Report_May_2022.pdf.
What this means is that the levels of water in the ground are lower than we would normally expect at this time of year and therefore flows in the Ems are likewise lower than normal. Currently flow levels in the river are at a level we would expect to see in August. Whilst, the flows in the river are dropping, they have not reached the trigger point for us to start putting water proactively into the river (augmentation), so this is not happening just yet. However, as water levels continue to fall to uncharacteristically low levels for this time of the year, we anticipate we will need to start pumping water into the river in the next a couple of weeks and will work closely with the Environment Agency throughout the rest of the summer.
When we met with you last summer we talked through a number of longer term actions we intended to take, alongside the Friends of the Ems (FotE), to provide as much resilience to the Ems as we are able, without placing the drinking water supplies of our customers at risk. By way of an update;
· Our long term plans to reduce abstraction from the Ems and replace the water with alternative sustainable water source were specifically included in the current round of regional Water Resource planning. Many of the companies in the South East face similar issues and the potential solutions involve the construction of some very significant infrastructure. The plans will not be consolidated for public consultation until the autumn, but you can find a summary of the plans for the whole SE Region to date here: https://www.wrse.org.uk/ . Our colleagues in FotE were active in this planning process and have made representations on the plans.
· We are undertaking an invasive study of the geology immediately around the area of our current river augmentation location, to check its effectiveness. We are worried that flow measurements would suggest a % of the water we put into the river is not staying in the river, but instead sinking through the riverbed and back into the ground and lost. Drilling work will be undertaken in the following weeks. In consultation with the Environment Agency, if a more effective location which will benefit the resilience of the Ems is identified we will relocate our augmentation point.
· We have commissioned the Arun and Rother Rivers Trust (ARRT), working with the community living in the Ems valley, to independently create a catchment recovery plan. This plan will take a holistic view of the impacts of land use and river use across the catchment as a whole and will be a tool that will enable the community to seek third party and government funding to make improvements throughout the catchment. I understand there will be a number of public workshops held this summer right across the catchment and I will make sure you receive an invitation.
· Finally, one way to reduce the amount of water we need to take, is to try to reduce the demand for that water. This is very hard, especially in the recent hot weather. We continue to promote Water Efficiency and explore ways to help our customers to each use a little less water - to leave more water in the Environment. We have recently been running a scheme to provide customers with subsidised water butts to help them use less tap water in the garden and will be launching our summer campaign very soon. You can find details of these initiatives on twitter @Portsmouthwater. Any support you feel you are able to give to promote such water efficiency messages, would be gratefully received.
I trust this information answers your question. Should you have any further questions, or would like to come and see any of our work in the catchment, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Kind regards
Jim
Jim Barker
Head of Water Resources
Leakage and Smart Networks
