Dealing with drought - Telegraph The declaration yesterday of an official drought in the South East foreshadows months of water restrictions that will affect domestic consumers, gardeners, farmers and businesses. To declare a drought in February is unprecedented and follows the second dry winter in succession. East and south-east England have had less rainfall over the past 12 months than during any of the worst drought years of the 20th century. Yesterday's declaration was in many ways a precautionary measure - intended to encourage greater care with water use to obviate the need for more drastic measures in the summer. Indeed, the inevitable hosepipe ban will be the least disruptive consequence; the worst will see food prices rise as crops fail and supplies have to be imported. Our approach to drought is predicated upon a belief that it will rain in the end because it always does. But this ignores the possibility of a more prolonged climatic shift and the big increase in the population of the South East. This drought is another example of divided Britain. Many of the northern and western parts of the country have had plenty of rain - record amounts, in some areas. What is needed, then, is for part of that water to be conveyed to where it is needed most. Caroline Spelman, the Environment Secretary, pointed out yesterday that building pipelines to move water around the country is a major undertaking. But this could be done by using the existing rivers and canals. Such a scheme, known as the Grand Contour Canal, was proposed as long ago as 1942; after the 1976 drought, a feasibility study was conducted into the creation of a national water grid, only to be abandoned when it rained again. It may well be expensive to transfer water in this way. Soon, however, it will be too costly not to.