This is London, not Yemen - we don't need desalination on the Thames

WWF is extremely disappointed with today's decision by the Government to allow a desalination plant to be built on the Thames. The plant is a 'sticking plaster' solution to the south east's water crisis, does not address the real problem of the UK's poor water management and will contribute to global warming. Rob Oates, manager of WWF's freshwater work in the UK, said; "It is nonsense to imagine that London, or indeed anywhere in the UK, needs a desalination plant to supply its freshwater needs. What we really need to do is reduce leakage - which still stands at 25 per cent - introduce universal water metering to reduce demand, and over-abstraction from the UK's rivers and introduce more water saving devices in homes and businesses. "This is the UK, not Yemen, and it rains here a lot. If some very simple technologies were introduced to harvest and store rainwater we could cut demand for water - and the associated massive energy demands from pumping it all over the country - by 50 percent. Half of domestic drinking water supplies are currently used for flushing toilets and washing clothes. Desalination does not deal with that problem - which is the real one." WWF believes that the plant is little more than an excuse for Thames Water to create as asset that will increase its value as a company, and plans to power this energy-hungry facility with biofuels are an environmental red-herring that do nothing more than put a green veneer over a fundamentally damaging project.

Posted 18th July 2007