Free water tanks for farmers to help during drought

Farmer Rory Lay says the water storage unit is helpful in fields with no water supply

A water company has given away 150 free mobile water storage units and plans to hand out 700 more to help livestock farmers manage in the dry spell.

Severn Trent Water (STW), which covers the West Midlands, said the portable 1,000-litre tanks, known as bowsers, were no longer needed for domestic use.

The region is officially in drought, following the driest March in 60 years, the sunniest April on record, and three heatwaves.

Farmer Rory Lay from Wem, Shropshire, said the bowser he received was helpful in fields with no water supply.

Arable farmer Mr Lay, who also has 200 beef cattle, said grass growth this year had been poor, which meant he would not be able to finish, or fatten, as many cows as usual through the winter.

The yield on some fields was half as much as usual, he said.

"A lot of farmers are using their winter supplies to feed their animals now because there's no grass on the fields," he added.

To restore supplies, Mr Lay said he would need "some nice steady rain for a good month probably... ideally four or five millimetres every day".

"We seem to get more heavy downpours, but when the ground is dry, the water runs off rather than soaking in."

Severn Trent advisor Mark Biddulph says the company wants to expand the scheme

STW said the water bowsers were for farmers to store water and maintain animal welfare as part of a new initiative to help manage water demand.

The company's agricultural advisor Mark Biddulph said the next step was to expand the scheme into Staffordshire, Herefordshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

The bowsers can be moved around and used where required or to collect rainwater to build resilience in dry spells, he said.