Sustaining water resources in South East England

Abstract

The South East of England is one of the driest regions of the UK and it is also one of the most densely populated. As a consequence the available water resource per head of population is about half of the figure used by the World Bank to indicate that a country is suffering water stress. The South East Plan, prepared by the South East England Regional Assembly, proposes to increase the population of the region by about 1 million by 2026. This paper considers the ability of the Region's water resources to cope with this growth. Copyright © 2006 Royal Meteorological Society.