England is already experiencing wetter winters, something climate models predict will continue. This prompts the question of whether we could just store more of this excess water for when we need it?
To do this, new reservoirs would be needed. But England has built no major new major reservoirs for more than 30 years.
The reason for the lack of new storage sites has been hotly debated between water companies and campaigners, the latter saying there has been a lack of investment from the privatised sector, the former arguing they were not given permission to spend the money by the regulators because of the impact on water bills.
The government’s landmark independent Cunliffe review into the water sector in 2025 accepted that both arguments were true.
Now 10 reservoirs are planned in England by 2050. But even with financial and political backing, building new reservoirs is not straightforward.
“Building enough reservoirs to hold all that water requires good places, which means places where the land is sloping, where we can find a valley,” explains Dr Ross Woods, associate professor of water and environmental engineering at the University of Bristol.
“I don’t think that’s realistic countrywide.”
One of the sites found to be suitable for a mega-reservoir serving 15 million people is near Abingdon.
This picturesque Oxfordshire town on the banks of the River Thames, was until recently, perhaps most famed for its bun-throwing traditions, but it is now at the centre of a national debate.
Public opinion on the reservoir has been split – some have objected to using the site for water, fearing high environmental costs from the destruction of ancient woodlands.
The government has now designated it and one other reservoir as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects, bypassing some local decision-making processes.
But these designations do not overcome the environmental hurdles.
Reservoirs, as water bodies, have to achieve “good” status for water quality under environmental law – meaning it must be free from pollution such as from agricultural runoff and invasive species – which just 14% of bodies currently in England have achieved. The Environment Agency told the Cunliffe Review that “the treatment costs of meeting ‘good’ may render the new reservoirs infeasible”.
