What with reservoir levels rising and the appearance of spring rains, particularly in the traditionally dry south east areas of England, industry figures have expressed confidence there will be no be irrigation restrictions this summer.
“I really cannot see any drought orders for industry users, or hosepipe bans for domestic use this year,” said Gordon Hollox, managing director of the Kent-based firm City Irrigation.
He said that more and more growers have moved over to trickle from overhead spray irrigation and there now a much more cautious attitude generally to the use of water. But overhead spray irrigation is still the major use for large-scale field vegetables.
He pointed out that there was considerable criticism last year that the industry was not given enough scheduling and pre-planning time to cope with the oncoming serious drought situation, but he added that this year the situation was much better.
NFU water adviser Anna Hall had produced a briefing on the Defra consultation on the proposed changes to powers to restrict non-essential uses of water of hosepipe bans and drought orders for England and Wales.
It was claimed that the hosepipe and drought orders were now out of date. Records show that householders used 114 litres of water per person per day in 1975, whereas in 2005, this figure had risen to 155 litres - an increase of 36 percent.
But John Archer, the union’s south east water policy adviser, said that although it was important to undergo this consultation, care had to taken. There was now a different perspective as to what was regarded as ‘essential use’. He said that every aspect of agriculture was regarded as ‘essential use’ in 1945. But the industry had to guard against any restrictions for use of irrigation for bedding plants, for example, as non-essential, when it was economically essential for the bedding plant industry.
“Horticulture has changed a great deal and we are growing many things now that we didn’t in 1945, and we have to remember this,” said John Archer.
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