Thames Water is moving forward with plans to build a 150 billion litre reservoir, the White Horse Reservoir, near Abingdon in Oxfordshire. The company intends to apply for planning permission by the end of 2026, with the aim of supplying 15 million customers across the South East by 2040.
The facility, estimated to cost between £5.5bn and £7.5bn, is planned to be filled with water from the River Thames during winter. This development occurs as the Thames Valley has received only 35% of its average rainfall this month.
In response to water supply challenges, the Evenload Landscape Recovery programme is working with 240 farmers in an area north-west of Oxfordshire. This Defra-funded project, receiving £100m over 20 years, aims to enhance flood resilience, promote biodiversity, and improve water supply to the South East by managing soil to increase natural water absorption.
Tim Field, director of the Evenload programme, emphasised the importance of retaining natural reservoirs under the Cotswolds for water resilience. He stated that relying solely on reservoir building is insufficient if rivers run dry from abstraction. Julie Morton, Thames Water's head of water resources, noted that rainfall between March and August was less than half of what is normally expected across their region, with groundwater and soil moisture remaining significantly below average.