can icebergs from the Arctic solve the uk's water crisis? A British water company is examining whether it can tow giant icebergs from the Arctic circle to bring water to Britain's drought-stricken south. Essex and Suffolk Water, which provides water to about 1.4 million consumers in eastern uk , is collaborating with a Scandinavian company to examine the project can be realised.

"It does sound a little fanciful but we have a duty to investigate all sources of supply,'said a spokesperson of the company. However, he admitted that "getting the iceberg across the North Sea would probably be rather expensive because we would have to build plants on the coast to convert the ice back into water and then treat it.'

Droughts are threatening southern and central uk where rainfall during the first three weeks in September was 40 per cent below average.