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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT BY DEPUTY G.C.L. BAUDAINS OF ST. CLEMENT
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 2nd DECEMBER 2008
Question
Would the Minister identify the tangible benefits, if any, that have accrued as a result of the introduction of the Water Resources (Jersey) Law 2007, and advise whether he still holds the view that climate change will result in scarcer water supplies?
Answer
Unfortunately I am not yet in a position to answer the first part of the Deputy 's question as the Water Resources Law does not come into force until 1st January 2009.
In answer to the second part of the question I can confirm that I still hold the view that Climate change will result in increased water scarcity. Changes in rainfall patterns are both predicted by predictive climate modelling based on anticipated future emissions of greenhouse gases and by the extrapolation of trends that are being observed in the local rainfall record.
Total annual rainfall is unlikely to change much - but the distribution of rainfall is likely to be different with more rain in the winters and substantially less rain in the summer, raising issues of how to protect the users of the scarce summer rainfall by greater storage to capture the increased winter rainfall.
The other point to note is that rainfall is expected to be heavier - i.e. we may have fewer rain events - but there is likely to be more rain in the individual events, raising issues of storm protection and possibly more frequent flash floods as storm drains become unable to cope with the deluges.