Swindon Friends of the Earth are outraged that Thames Water has taken the easy option with the blessing of the Environment Agency to apply for a drought permit to abstract more water from the River Thames for Farmoor reservoir and at Meysey Hampton.
It has been obvious, for some time, that rainfall was at an all time low this summer in the Upper Thames area. Yet there has been no attempt to impose restrictions on the use of water such as hose-pipe bans.
The cynical amongst us might believe that this is a ploy on the part of Thames Water to build their massive new reservoir that would cover about 10 square kilometres of land near Abingdon.
However, we are equally appalled that the Environment Agency, the guardians of our rivers, have not insisted that demand management should take priority over placing our aquatic wildlife into further risk.
J Saunders
Swindon Friends of the Earth
Longcot
Faringdon
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