England-wide hosepipe ban ‘should be imposed to protect rivers and wildlife’
Water company bosses are being urged to impose a England-wide hosepipe ban to avoid the worst effects of drought on rivers and wildlife.
Conservationists said action to reduce water use and pollution is needed to help the natural world, which has been hit by months of little rainfall combined with heatwaves.
The extreme conditions have left landscapes parched with wildfires breaking out at wildlife-rich nature reserves and aquatic nature endangered by concentrated levels of pollutants in low-flowing rivers, the Wildlife Trusts said.
Peatlands in some areas are exceptionally dry making them more prone to wildfire, ponds, scrapes and streams are drying up hitting wildlife such as dragonflies, and badgers are struggling to reach earthworms in the dry soil.
Chalk streams, an important habitat for creatures including otters, water voles and kingfishers, are very low across Hertfordshire and other parts of southern England, the federation of independent nature charities warned.
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