A fast track analysis of strategies for infrastructure provision in Great Britain: executive summary

ion for electricity generation and public water supply combined accounted for around 85% of abstraction from all surface waters between 1995 and 2008, while the public water supply represented 75% of abstraction from groundwater sources for the same period. Whether for consumptive or non-consumptive use, the electricity generation sector usually constitutes the principal consumer of water abstracted from the tidal (Figure 29, overleaf ) and non-tidal (Figure 30, overleaf ) surface waters of England and Wales. Its demand is volatile; abstraction for hydroelectric electricity generation in particular is depressed during periods of intense water scarcity and increases opportunistically when water is relatively abundant; abstraction for public water supply is generally more uniform (Figure 31, overleaf ), and is consistently the largest abstractor from groundwater by volume (Figure 32, overleaf ). Figure 28: The division of abstraction between water sources in England and Wales by volume (1995–2008 data). Non-tidal surface waters Tidal surface waters Groundwater surfaces 52% 37% 11%