Thread by @MShepperson

Question for twitter: Why hasn't there been a single new reservoir built for over 30 years in the UK?
We used to build loads:

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#water #watershortage #drought #privatisation

Disclaimers: I made this graph by going through the 500-odd wikipedia entries for UK reservoirs and noting their completion dates (stuck alone at home with covid). Didn't include hydro-electric projects or canal feeders as far as possible. It's not comprehensive, but not bad
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What I think this shows is that a +30 year gap in building new reservoirs is not normal. There hasn't been even a 5 year gap in the previous 150 years.
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Since the last reservoir was completed in 1991:

The UK population has grown by about 10 million

Climate change has led to increasingly hot, dry summers

So, it seems crazy that no new water storage capacity has been built
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The correlation between stopping reservoir construction and privatisation in 1989 is stark.

I assume the money that should have been invested in reservoir capacity has gone into shareholder pockets, just as with infrastructure to stop sewage over-flows into rivers.
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This is not my field, I'm just a bored, sick archaeologist, so I would love to hear alternative explanations from more informed people.

As it is, when my water company asks me to cut my water consumption, I'm inclined to tell them to go and build some f***ing reservoirs
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