Now that a nationwide hosepipe ban is imminent mainly due to river streams and reservoirs drying up and what's causing it, I have my own theory!
I have been taking a look at bottled water, basically the "free" tap water during Summer is in short supply {no surprise there} but there's an abundance of bottled water in many retail outlets waiting to be purchased.
Approximately 3 BILLION bottles of water are purchased in Britain {alone} each year, that includes 1 litre, 2 litre and 5 litre bottles among others, THAT'S A LOT OF WATER!! and that doesn't include the water being collected now, being transported to the bottling plants, already stored at the plants, already in transit to the retail outlets and the retail outlets bottled water ALREADY in stock.
There's got to be enough bottled water out there NOW to fill lake Windermere so if water is being "diverted" from it's normal course, so it can be bottled and sold to the public, is there any wonder the streams etc are drying up.