Water suppliers in the UK have historically operated a large number of small, local water supply systems, generally based on a single source supplying a town or village. Gradually, as populations grew, some of these water supply systems were joined up. The drought in 1976 exposed the fragility of many single-source supply systems. Cuts to water supply on a rota basis were imposed in South Wales, standpipes were installed in North Devon, and non-essential use bans were widespread. The Regional Water Authorities (RWA) were encouraged to link their supplies to obtain the benefit of conjunctive use.
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