MBE In the decades to come water will be an increasingly vital resource. Nationally we will need to be able to efficiently transfer water from water rich areas to those experiencing drought AND manage the water storage infrastructure in such a way that it does not create a flood risk for communities downstream of reservoirs. Should we be relying on these greedy, dishonest water companies to prepare for that challenge with their background of using any wriggle room, that loosely worded legislation offers them, to get permission to charge their customers more and more, whilst shareholder profits and director's salaries go on unchallenged and unquestioned? FULL text is here 05-12-2023 E A and United Utilities Raw Sewage reporting at Windemere World Heritage Site. BBC News / Panorama Dec 4 2023 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67567323?xtor=ES-208- [67188_NEWS_NLB_DEF_WK49_MON_4_DEC]-20231204- 15-11-2023 NAO Press Release: Resilience to flooding The Environment Agency (EA) has cut its forecast for the number of additional properties that will be better protected from flooding by 40% since plans were first unveiled in 2020, according to a new report by the National Audit Office. EA estimates that inflation accounts for between a half and two-thirds of this reduction. Resilience to flooding sets out that EA has reduced its forecast of the number of properties it will be able to better protect by 2027 from 336,000 to 200,000, a reduction of 40 per cent. In addition, EA is removing 500 of the 2,000 new flood defence projects that were originally included in the programme. This is despite government doubling its capital funding in England in the six years to 2027 to £5.2 billion to combat the danger of flooding. Full article is here 16-11-2024 NEWS from Environment Agency 2 National News ( The Guardian ) 15-11-2023 Flood protection plans for English homes cut by 40% Quarter of new flood defence projects will also not go ahead, NAO finds, as Environment Agency blames cuts on inflation Link to article is here 16-11-2024 NEWS from Environment Agency 1 National News ( The Telegraph ) 15-11-2023 “More than 200,000 homes in danger as money runs out to fix flood defences Shortfall of £34m means thousands of properties have been left at greater risk, says National Audit Office” Link to article is here 17-10--2 023 ENVIRONMENT AGENCY 09-09-2023 ENVIRONMENT AGENCY 08-2023 ENVIRONMENT AGENCY The EA are concerned that people are not registering with their flood warning service because of the new Emergency Alerts system which the government rolled out a few months ago - see About Emergency Alerts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) for more information on these. You really do still need to have access to the flood warning system so be sure your contact details are correct and update if necessary. The new system is simply intended to be an additional alert to warn of a number of forms of danger nearby, such as fire, severe flooding or extreme weather; they apply to severe situations, and will be based on your location at the time. This differs from the EA flood alerts and warnings which you register to receive based on your home location or place of interest. This new system may issue an Emergency Alert in relation to flooding, but this would be in the case of an extreme situation which corresponds to one of our Severe Flood Warnings. The EA flood alert system gives details way beyond the point where there is flooding with danger to life. As a reminder, a Flood Alert means that flooding is possible and you should be prepared. A Flood Warning means that flooding is expected and immediate action is required. About Emergency Alerts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)