A UK utility is plotting how it could ship in water on tankers from Norway to combat future shortages and droughts.
The Financial Times reported that Southern Water, with 2.7m customers, is in talks with privately owned UK start-up Extreme Drought Resilience Service (ESRD) to import water from the fjords when needed.
ESRD says on its website that it sources water from Fresh Water Norway in tetrapak cartons.
But the report says exports in shipping containers or via tankers are being explored.
Southern Water plans to pay for the scheme through customers’ bills.
Using tankers is a “last-resort contingency measure”, the company’s managing director for water, Tim Mcmahon, told the FT.
“Nevertheless, it’s right that we work with regulators to consider all possibilities into the mid-2030s.”
The report claims the UK’s Environment Agency is in contact with Norwegian regulators about the plan.
The FT said the agency believes the scheme reflects Southern’s delays in its own vital water supply measures, and will review the proposals through a public consultation, focusing on the environmental impact.
Green groups have criticised the plans on these grounds.
Earlier this year, two Spanish regions considered shipping in water on tankers because of droughts but did not carry out the plans in the end.
And TradeWinds reported in April on plans by entrepreneur Thomas Schumann’s Thomas Schumann Capital to ship some of the 350trn litres of fresh Arctic water trapped in Greenland’s glaciers on vessels to alleviate global droughts.
