The Thames Water Abingdon Reservoir is a proposed clean water reservoir, south west of Abingdon, Oxfordshire. Proposals were first made in 2006 by Thames Water. In 2007 the Environment Agency noted that need for the reservoir was not proven, and the proposals were officially rejected in 2011. New proposals for the reservoir to be built by 2043 in response to projected population growth in the region were released by Thames Water in 2018.
Reasons for the construction
The main reason to build this reservoir is that the South-East is facing a serious water stress issue. Some of the factors leading to this are the Rain shadow effect which is caused due to the prevailing westerly winds from the Atlantic Ocean and the abundance of hilly areas on the west side of the UK. The East of the UK doesn't get that much rain; the average annual rainfall for the East is 500-750mm. Comparing that to the West which receives around 1800-2800mm of rainfall shows why the East is suffering so much. One more thing to take into consideration is that the population on the East is generally much greater than in the west. London houses 13.5% of the UK's population which puts a concentration of water usage on the East. Although the UK consumes a lot of water domestically most of the water is used in industry. Roughly 22% of the UK's water usage is domestic and 75% is from industry.
Reasons against the construction
GARD or the 'Group Against Reservoir Development' have built a case against the reservoir on their website . They highlight that Thames Water have unambitious targets for leakages, the reservoir against long droughts and that they don't need the reservoir at all as there is enough water to supply London now and in the future if we use other sustainable methods. The construction itself will have a massive impact on the local environment as it will cause serious traffic congestion. The reservoir its self will take the place of Hanney road, multiple businesses and . Also, the building of a reservoir would displace protected species as well as putting local communities in risk of flooding.
