摘要：
在过去的两年里，英国连续经历了两个降水稀少的冬季。虽然上周末英国大部分地区都普降雨雪，但统计表明，在过去的16个月中，只有一个月的降水达到了往年的平均降水量。如此少的降水也让去年成为了英国历史上第3大干旱年，其干旱严重程度甚至超过了大旱的1976年。严重的干旱意味着英国正在面临一场"水危机"。
Britain's biggest water company is expected to announce the first hosepipe ban of the year tomorrow as the country's drought reaches crisis levels.

在过去的两年里，英国连续经历了两个降水稀少的冬季。虽然上周末英国大部分地区都普降雨雪，但统计表明，在过去的16个月中，只有一个月的降水达到了往年的平均降水量。如此少的降水也让去年成为了英国历史上第3大干旱年，其干旱严重程度甚至超过了大旱的1976年。严重的干旱意味着英国正在面临一场"水危机"。

据《卫报》12日报道，连年的大旱目前已经使得流经英国首都伦敦的泰晤士河水位严重下降。英国环境保护部门对此发出警告说，水位的大幅度下降有可能造成河内鱼群的大量死亡，同时过低的水位也会危及在泰晤士河上行船只的安全。为了节约用水，避免出现居民靠供水车在街头取水度日的情景，英国多家供水公司目前正在酝酿采取禁用橡胶软管和洒水车等节水措施，这些措施将在一定程度上改变英国人口中约1500万人的用水习惯。

考虑到全球气候变暖这个事实，英国一些机构预测，在即将到来的漫长而炎热的夏季，英国各地用水量将会大增。为此从现在开始就采取更加有效的节水措施将是避免"水危机"进一步扩大的必要步骤。一些机构和人士还建议在英国实施北水南调工程，将降水较多地区的河水逐步引入降水相对较少的东南部地区，以缓解那里的"水危机"。据统计，英国东南部地区人均水量甚至不及非洲苏丹的人均水量。

（国际在线独家资讯 张海山）

Britain's biggest water company is expected to announce the first hosepipe ban of the year tomorrow as the country's drought reaches crisis levels.

Four more suppliers are thought to be poised to introduce or extend bans, meaning 15 million people would face restrictions. Millions of Thames Water customers will be banned from using hosepipes and sprinklers, and 'non-essential uses' from fountains to the cleaning of trains could be next.

Two dry winters have left levels of ground water, essential to keep rivers flowing, dangerously low. Although rain and snow fell across much of Britain this weekend, only one of the last 16 months had average rainfall. Last year was the third driest on record; drier than 1976, when water companies had to put standpipes in the streets. Parts of some smaller London rivers are dry, and the Environment Agency warned low flows could cause mass fish deaths and problems for boats getting up the Thames.

If the hosepipe ban, tougher restrictions and appeals to conserve water fail, supplies would be turned off and customers forced to collect water from tanks in the streets.

'That's why action now can help alleviate that scenario, which is obviously the nightmare one,' said Nick Tennant, Thames Water's spokesman. 'Every small action, everybody turning the tap off when they brush their teeth, is a step away from that.' Thames Water, which has eight million customers from Kent to Gloucestershire, will implement the ban starting on 3 April. It is its first ban for 15 years.

The Environment Agency said Folkestone and Dover Water Services in Kent and Three Valleys Water, north of London, may impose bans in April, and two companies may extend bans in place since last summer. In the long term, suppliers forecast demand will keep rising, and there are concerns climate change will bring longer, hotter summers and more erratic rainfall.

　Folkestone and Dover Water has just become the first company in Britain given 'water scarcity' status, allowing it to impose meters on all customers, and other authorities may follow suit. Other proposals include more reservoirs, a desalination plant, and massive transfer schemes from wetter parts of Britain to the south. Low rainfall and high population density mean the south east of England has less water per head than Sudan.

'It's a crisis, there's no question about that,' said Peter Ainsworth, the Conservatives' shadow environment secretary. 'What [water companies] don't know is whether we're seeing a long-term trend influenced by climate change, or it's just a one in a hundred [year event].'

Thames Water denied the shortages were solely due to huge leakages from its mostly Victorian pipes, which waste one third of water travelling from reservoirs to taps. The company is spending ?1bn over five years replacing and fixing pipes.

　　

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