Did anyone else know that the reservoirs are running so low? Wildlife must be struggling.

What argument? And what attack?

@Jennps you lost the argument so decided to have a go at attacking @insomniaclife instead. Do better

If you need to be concerned about your water usage in your area, your council/borough will let you know.

I live in a country that is regularly drought-affected. In my area, all houses have water tanks separate to the council water supply. Our water tanks (we have two) can supply us completely if we needed, but at the moment we use that water for our garden, the pond, and our shed. They have never run dry.
Occasionally, the dams in our region do dip to critical drought levels. When that happens, the Council tells us to conserve water by having short showers, watering plants before 10am or after 4pm (if using town water), or if quite critical, only watering plants on certain days of the week. Cars can only be washed on lawns, not driveways (if critical, not at all).

If you haven’t been told to take measures like this, I wouldn’t worry. However, you can conserve water by making some of the changes above.

Indeed. Local councils and the EA in my area recently rejected planning permission for a housing development due to serious doubts over the ability to supply water. The government overruled it and said it will go ahead.

I think the trouble is that people don't care. I've seen threads before where people are entitled, outraged that they might have to consider not using a hosepipe or wash at the sink instead of having a bath. Or not washing their towels after every use. People don't see water as a precious and finite resource.

Further afield, but there's a terrifying article about the lack of water in Kabul here:
https://aje.io/f1707v

This is not true. Investment has increased significantly since privatisation.
https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/investment-in-the-water-industry/#qu1

You really believe that any of the recent governments would prioritise investment in water, something that the public mostly never think about? I wouldn't trust them to.

Well I think that is roughly when the water companies were transferred from public to private ownership. Since then they have been more keen to rake off any profits to pay dividends to shareholders than invest in the infrastructure.

I know, it’s awful 😞

Not just watered, but painted with chemicals to keep them green in summer and sprayed with pesticides and herbicides.

Golf courses are man made ecological deserts.

I am quite rural and we have a lot of outdoor space, which I know is a luxury.

There is a lot of wildlife around here but where I am, there are plenty of fields/trees/hedges. Our village also has a lot of green spaces and a lot of people have various flowers/plants in the gardens.

We have 2 old millpond near us which also help wildlife.

My husband is a very keen gardener so we have all sorts of plants and flowers out there and he built a water feature that uses water from a stream which we can use to water plants plus we have a water butt to catch and store rainwater.

Generally speaking, I think a lot of people don't give water much thought - they just assume it's there and that's it. We are not connected to mains water, we have well water, so we are very careful with using water during the spring/summer if it is dry. We had a very dry spell around April/May and managed not to run out by being very conservative with using it. Since then, we have had some good downpours in between sunny spells so we are doing fine. Many people will just never think about what they use.

There are two reservoirs near us and they are looking very low 😔

Lady bower this week, I know it's higher in winter but still

Al the reservoirs we passed were low

There were a lot less of us.

The water companies CEO’s siphon off the profits. Water should be brought back into government control. Water butts, permeable driveways, trees and flowers where possible would help flooding which is also a massive issue.

I top up a shallow tray of cold water in my garden each day. The birds drink and bathe in it.

Many of us doing small things like this will make a difference.

But water needs to be seen as a valuable resource with better management by water companies. I reported a leak on a main road last month and it took six weeks for the water company to bother to come out to fix it. Our bills have gone up so why are they still so shit?

We can all do our bit with our own little patches of earth. We have water butts, use tap run-off to full watering jugs and are conscious of choosing plants that can tolerate long periods of dry weather.

Our window boxes are filled with pollinator-friendly plants and we have purple and white flowers to attract the bees.

I bought a couple of tiny pots of wild daisies a few years ago (Erigeron karvinskianus) which self-seeded way beyond my expectations and now our once-grey and drab drive is festooned with beautiful pink and white flowers all around the edges. The bees love it. And so do I.

It's very easy to feel helpless and "what's the point" of it all, but really it's a choice to be proactive and do something that makes the future a little more hopeful.

We put out water and food for the birds and top up the bowls in the evening, putting down kitten biscuits for the hedgehogs. I try and do my bit for the struggling wildlife. Sadly a huge farmers field next to me is due to be built on, this will affect nesting birds etc, lots of gardens now aren’t wildlife friendly, concrete boards for fences don’t allow hedgehogs to roam between gardens. There are solutions out there but developers don’t care.

Agreed. Why are golf courses still being watered whilst wildlife is left to suffer?

It was a dick response tbf.

@Lazygardener I’m of the same mind. We are working on making our garden a little haven for wildlife, but beyond that it feels insurmountable.