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Protect yourself from droughts 

Rainfall in the UK varies between 550 and 3000mm a year. However, the high rainfall tends to be in the north and west where few people live. Most people live where rainfall is between 600 and 800 mm a year. London is actually drier than Istanbul and Madrid. In fact it is predicted that it will become wetter in the north and west, and drier in the south and east. The Environment Agency has concluded that the south and east are already past sustainable levels.
It will be wetter in winter and drier in summer. In the summer of 2006, , this was not the case, with the dry summer preceded by a dry winter compounding the water shortage resulting in the well-publicised water restrictions. And in 2007 the government is proposing to extend the hosepipe ban from just watering gardens and washing cars to include filling swimming pools, ornamental ponds and hot tubs, and cleaning patios, drives and windows. Furthermore, long term forecasts are predicting an equally dry summer for 2007.

But with a water tank and an effective irrigation system you could keep your garden going throughout a drought. For example, with a 5000 litre tank and a 100 m long drip system, you could water for an hour a day for 90 days before the tank ran dry, with 1500 litre tank, for @ 30 days, and with a 650 litre tank for @ 10 days.