Too Wet, Too Dry

Emma Howard-Boyd, Chair of the England Environment Agency delivered the 35th Annual Lecture of the Plumbers’ Company entitled “Extremes of Climate. Too Wet, Too Dry. What are we to do about it?”. Held at the Royal College of Physicians she led the audience through many of the challenges facing the country today resulting from changes in the weather patterns. Changes that it is expected will continue and become more extreme. The Environment Agency has, and continues to develop, many different strategies but recongnises that the scale and complexity of the challenges we face with it being too wet or too dry requires new and lateral thinking. The audience responded with many questions and observations. The Master summarised the evening by reminding us that such diverse and complex challenges requires us to listen to others, to collaborate across the disciplines and for us to take individual actions that can be simple and low key but have a great cumulative effect.