Our charity alongside other major infrastructure providers has responded to the opportunity to report to the Government on climate change, and how our canals could help manage and mitigate its impact.
Our Climate Adaptation Report summarises the risks for our aging infrastructure, the challenges posed by reduced government funding but also showcases some of the many opportunities our waterways can bring in cooling cities and transferring water to places in need. Collectively, all the reports will inform the UK’s next national independent Climate Change Risk Assessment due in 2026.
Carrying water, where it’s needed most
The report explains that our canals already help water companies to supply 5 million people a year with drinking water. In Cheshire, for example, United Utilities use the Llangollen Canal to take water from the River Dee to Hurleston Water Treatment Works, where, after cleaning, it supplies around 330,000 people.
In Bristol, water is pumped from the River Severn to flow along the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal to serve around 600,000 people. With concerns rising about drought and water supply in future we’re now working with Severn Trent and Affinity Water to use the Grand Union Canal to move water from the Midlands to the South East.
Without the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal, Bristol's water supply could quickly run dry
Diverting water, in time of flood
When extreme flash floods hit, canals can help too. Our team reacted quickly during Storm Bert in November 2024, to divert water away from areas at risk of flooding in Northwich, Cheshire. We’ve also worked with the Environment Agency and Calderdale Council to deliver a £35 million flood alleviation scheme in Yorkshire, which raised flood walls and created an overflow system through the Rochdale Canal, so that excess floodwater could be moved away from residential areas at risk.
Supplying water to grow food
When dry weather affects farmers’ fields, our waterways can provide food security and keep our supermarkets stocked up. For over thirty years we’ve supplied water from the Aire & Calder Navigation and Selby Canal to one of the largest farmers of carrots and other root vegetables in the country.
Keeping our cities cool
Canals have also been shown to cool cities during hot weather and can provide low-carbon heating and cooling for buildings and help firefighters tackle blazes.
Research shows canal water can cool cities during heatwaves by up to 1.6 degrees
Helping nature thrive
Canals can even help tackle the biodiversity crisis. Our network provides vital habitats and corridors for nature to thrive, connecting cities and towns to the open countryside. Our unique interconnected network of hedgerows, waterways and canal banks provides homes for wildlife like no other.
Yet our canals are vulnerable to climate change too.
As the recent storms show, climate change will only bring more frequent and intense weather events that impact our canal system built over 200 years ago by hand with little more than clay, stone, and lime mortar.
Extremely heavy rain can also cause canals to overtop, overwhelm embankments and culverts to fail leaving holes in our towpaths. All of this takes canals out of action and requires millions of pounds of repair work, often carried out in areas that are hard to access.
At the other end of the scale, summer droughts, which are predicted to increase in a future climate, can also spell disaster for canals. The 2022 drought affected 15% of our network, including important TransPennine routes like the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. We continue to invest millions of pounds in our reservoirs, and we carefully monitor and manage our water stocks to maintain navigation putting in place restrictions to help cope with extended periods of low rainfall moving into drought.
Canal reservoirs like Tring are vital to keep our waterways flowing in times of drought
Canals and navigable rivers are vital to the UK and giving them a secure and sustainable future will help to realise their enormous potential to help the UK cope with climate change.
