Town & Country
Winners and losers of the summer of 2022
THE summer of 2022 will linger in the memory for its uninterrupted cobalt-sky days, blistering sunshine, soaring temperatures (40.3˚C was recorded for the first time ever in the UK on July 19) and a dearth of rain. Parallels have already been drawn with the shimmering summer of 1976, when weeks of hot, dry weather drained the colour from Britain’s usually verdant countryside, leaving great swathes a uniform dull beige. Parched soil became criss-crossed by cracks. Forests caught fire. Rivers ran dry.
Forty-six years later and the scenario is not dissimilar. According to the National Fire Chiefs Council, the summer of 2022 brought a 200% increase in wildfires from last year. A drought has been declared in nine of England’s 14 regions by the Environment Agency (EA) and millions of householders are enduring hosepipe bans. Following the driest July for almost 90 years, 13 rivers in England have been declared lower than ever before. To compound this troubling picture, the longed-for rains when they came were so drenching that they overwhelmed systems, in part because the rock-hard ground couldn’t absorb the excess water. Companies consequently discharged sewage into the sea, leading to).
