Electricity generation is driving up water abstraction in England, according to the latest statistics released by the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs.
The latest estimates of direct abstraction of water from non-tidal surface and groundwater in England show an increase of 2% from 2014.
The figures, which cover the period 2000 to 2015, show there was a gradual decline in estimated abstractions between 2000 and 2011. Following a 13% increase in 2012, abstraction has remained level at around 9 billion cubic metres a year for the past 3 years.
The abstraction of water from non-tidal surface water and groundwater in England and Wales fell steadily from the peak of an estimated 11.6 billion cubic metres in 2001 to 8.2 billion cubic metres in 2011.
However, since 2011, total abstraction has increased by 14% to 9.4 billion cubic metres, driven mostly by abstraction for electricity generation, which increased from 1.4 billion cubic metres in 2011 to 2.5 billion cubic metres in 2015.
This is in contrast to the last publication where abstraction was decreasing due to a large reduction in hydropower abstracted in Wales. The abstractions for public water supply, which makes up 50% of total abstraction, decreased slightly by 1% over the same period to 5.1 billion cubic metres in 2015.
The next set of statistics will be published in Winter 2017-18.
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