The River Ver & Its People
Humankind has always relied on clean, fresh water for ourselves and our animals, in the past taking it straight from the river. However steadily increasing demands on water resources over the second half of the last century meant that supplies had to be drawn from deep in the chalk aquifer by means of boreholes. This is ground water which would normally feed into the River.
Now at the start of the 21st century further large areas of the country have been designated for new house building. Statistics show continued increase in water consumption per head. However the Ver Valley Society is striving to increase awareness of the impending ecological problems that this demand for water will cause, especially at a time when global warming poses its own threat.
The Ver must not be allowed to dwindle away as it nearly did in the early 1990s.
Apart from the air we breathe water is probably the most important thing in life. None of us could live very long without it. We can live longer without food than we can without water. In the Ver catchment for example, each of us uses over 150 litres per day for washing, drinking and cleaning – despite a compulsory water meter programme being introduced recently.
Did You Know?
Fresh water is one the Earth’s most precious resources.
Water covers over 70% of our planet’s surface but only 3% of this is fresh water and two thirds of that is held in the polar ice caps. Therefore, only 1% of the total is available for rivers, lakes, wetlands and human consumption.