ET Drought and floods 'may become a way of life' By Nicola Woolcock (Filed: 06/07/2001)

TOWNS swamped by floods just months ago could suffer deluges each winter and droughts each summer, the Environment Agency says.

Waterways in Kent and Sussex, the areas worst hit by flooding, are on the verge of running dry, while action taken to top up the River Ouse from a reservoir has been too successful and could soon result in more flooding.

The agency says it could burst its banks and again swamp Lewes, the town worst affected by floods which started last October.

A spokesman said parts of the South-East could see a regular pattern of floods every winter and droughts every summer because of extreme weather patterns.

She said: "Climate change is believed to be the cause of these seemingly contradictory circumstances and the agency is gravely concerned that flooding will once again cause devastation this winter."

"We have this very strange set of circumstances in which people are still cleaning up after the floods while we are having to top up rivers.

"It is a serious concern that we could have floods each winter and water shortages in the summer."

Water companies are considering imposing embargoes after the driest period since 1986 has left river levels extremely low.

In Kent, levels are already so low that water companies can no longer abstract drinking water from the River Medway, which flooded the village of Yalding seven times in six months.

The River Lavant, at Chichester, West Sussex, is so low that it will cease flowing within the week if there is no rain.

In Kent, more than 50 Gurkhas based at Shornecliffe Barracks helped to distribute 140,000 litres of fresh, bottled water to 12,000 people after their supply was contaminated by toxic blue green algae.

The algae normally grows on lakes during hot weather but it has now been found in surface water on Romney Marsh and discovered in the Folkestone and Dover Water Company's supply.

Around 6,000 households were told not to wash with the water or drink it, even after boiling. Hundreds of water bowsers were delivered to towns on the marsh near Folkestone.

In Scotland, power supplies to hundreds of homes were back to normal yesterday after electric storms caused havoc over the south and west.

Scottish Power said all customers were reconnected by last night, nearly 24 hours after torrential rain and lightning disrupted supplies.

The Mediterranean temperatures in which Britain has been sweltering will have fallen by the weekend, according to forecasts from the Met Office. Heavier showers are expected today.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2001