Water is an issue

Over the weekend they turned our water supply at the allotment off to fix a leak elsewhere, and forgot to turn it back on. Cue pure panic from everyone at the plots, as we are starting to harvest water hungry crops such as cucumbers and tomatoes. Not to mention feeding plants like pumpkins, which are also greedy.

Due to the dryness, I’ve managed to actually pick several nice lettuces as well. Usually I feed those to snails and slugs, but this year we had no rain in April, and then a lot of rain, and now we are in a heat wave down south in the UK. I’ve also invested in extra water harvesting, with three water collection units now at the house (they’re known as water butts here) attached to the downpipes from the roof.

Part of the issue is the small pond I have, which does have to be topped up regularly as it is quite small. But it does keep the local wildlife topped up too. It is interesting as there is a move to build more ponds on farms, with the Water Net Gain (WNG) project, which is funded by the Water Regulation Services Authority (OFWAT) Innovation Fund. It is investigating new ways farmers can increase water resilience, bolster drought affected water supplies and ease associated river health pressures through on-farm water storage ponds.

The UK Dairy Roadmap comes to the fore, as the work put in there has helped farmers with a 24 per cent increase in water efficiency, while the processors have seen a 20 per cent increase in that area. Dairy UK notes that as the UK sees wetter winters and drier summers, this will put pressure on water availability both on farm and further down the supply chain.

So, interesting times ahead. In the meantime, any advice on further drought resistant crops is welcomed.

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