17. Water stress
Resource availability status at low flows for units of surface water and / or surface water combined with groundwater, in Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy Areas, 2008
Resource availability status for units of groundwater in Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy Areas, 2008
- The UK is commonly perceived as wet, but the population density is high, and rainfall varies across the country. Therefore, for each person, there is relatively little water available, especially in the south east and some urban areas.
- The maps illustrate Environment Agency Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy (CAMS) areas as of March 2008 where the first map shows surface water (or where surface water interacts significantly with groundwater).The second shows where groundwater was assessed separately from surface water.
- The following definitions apply to the resource availability status categories:
- Water available: Water is likely to be available at all flows including low flows. Restrictions may apply.
- No water available: No water is available for further licensing at low flows. Water may be available at higher flows with appropriate restrictions.
- Over licensed: Current actual abstraction is such that no water is available at low flows. If existing licences were used to their full allocation they could cause unacceptable environmental damage at low flows. Water may be available at high flows, with appropriate restrictions.
- Over abstracted: Existing abstraction is causing unacceptable damage to the environment at low flows. Water may still be available at high flows, with appropriate restrictions.
- This indicator will be further developed as the CAMS project continues to assess changes in status over time.
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