Could we be heading for a drought that’s so bad we have to queue for water at communal taps out on the street?
It sounds far fetched in the 21st century.
But less than 50 years ago that’s what neighbourhoods had to do as household taps ran dry in the long, hot summer of 1976.
Now new figures show England is currently experiencing the driest start to a year since then.
The Environment Agency says levels at three quarters of reservoirs fell in June. On average, they were 75% full at the end of the month.
And rivers, which of course top up reservoirs, are also running low.
Levels in three-quarters of those monitored by the Agency were below normal for the time of year. One in eight were exceptionally low.
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It will be getting worse.
The whole country will have a heatwave in the coming days.
That not only dries out the landscape even more, but it increases demand for water.
The first hosepipe ban of the summer is already in effect in areas served by Yorkshire Water.
And Thames Water has warned it may also have to impose a ban if high demand continues while there is so little rain.
We are a long way from standpipes in the street again.
But several regions are currently in pre-drought mode, officially called “prolonged dry weather status”.
And the Met Office is forecasting that the next three months will be hotter and drier than average.
Water companies have been slow to fix leaks. It’s a red rag for angry bill-payers, but that’s only part of the story.
The last major reservoir to be built was in 1992, the population is growing rapidly, and the climate is also changing.
The Environment Agency warns the UK faces a five-billion-litre-a-day shortfall for public water supplies by 2055.
Gone are the days when we had the steady influence of the Atlantic on our climate, bringing us regular rain and temperatures that were relatively mild.
But the autumn of last year was much wetter than normal. Then came the driest spring in more than a century.
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Britain’s climate increasingly see-saws between extremes.
And our water supply just isn’t built for the new normal.
