Hosepipe ban

I don't seem to be able to find the "Excuse me but I'm not thick" unsmilie or the "Lecturing should be left in the classroom" unsmilie, but they have been overlooked by the smilie creators.

Over and out.

 

Cant say I feel the need to use a hosepipe right now, so they can poke their ban where the sun dont shine.
Which it just about most places since the ban was imposed.

Roll on winter, lets get some dry weather, its not like its actually warm rain, more like November than April showers.

 

I'm sorry if I offended you. If you were making a joke that's fine (but wasn't apparent to me), but if you were just having a cheap jibe at the Anglian Water because your nearest reservoir is full and they haven't rescinded your hosepipe ban, then I think you are being naive (for the reasons I explained). Happy to be corrected if I have got any facts wrong.

 

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(oooh I've been waiting for a good reason to use that one for ages! )​

 

And Noah recorded that it rained for 40 days and 40 nights (a rough quote - its a long time since Sunday School).
Whilst sitting atop Mound Arrarat in his Ark the Dove returned with the latest weather report:-
"whilst the current weather conditions have been inclement, the average rainfall for the year is normal, taking into account the arid conditions of last Summer"

 

So when's St Swithin's Day!

 

We certainly have no shortage of water where I stay. However - when people talk of de salinisation plants I wonder how much energy it would take to operate them. Energy is expensive so the cost of water would increase dramatically. Is it a long term solution. Maybe it would make sense to import the water from countries like Scotland or Wales, by pipeline or sea tanker. Ok! the cost of a pipeline would be expensive but if it could be completed over a 10 - 20yr period. When you look at the volume of Loch Ness which contains more water than all the Lochs and Lakes in the UK combined it shows the vast amount of water that Scotland has. There has got to be a study done to see if the water sharing is fiesable and possible. Water is the one commodity that all humans need for survival. We must share it if at all possible

islayhawk

 

It was considered in 2006 (some report or other was published on the matter). It was costed, back then, at £15bn.

Water "Up North" is more acidic than "Down South" so there would be ecological problems to consider (but on the up side I'd be able to grow Rhododendrons and Camellias!) and the amount of energy to "pump" the water would be obscene. You can't just put it in canals, and take it out at the far end, as canals were designed for largely static water body, not a flowing one. Water transferred in "open" canals like that has loses from evaporation of course (so a more expensive pipe-solution solves that)

Apart from the S.E. where the planners have allowed housebuilding to exceed the available supply of water, we just need to be more frugal. Installing water meters has been found to reduce consumption by 15% (from memory) - people waste less, fix leaking taps sooner, and so on. Fixing the leaks in the distribution system will make more available to the consumer (maybe ... if the leaks are going back into the aquifer then we will lower the aquifer if consumption increases and leaks are fixed). Or, as I mused earlier in this thread, rainwater harvesting could be sponsored - so people would be encouraged to install grey water systems, and it would be compulsory for new-builds; my earlier calculation was that that could save around 50% in households that had a full grey water system (rain water used to flush loos, clean cars, water the garden and so on).

If you took a budget of £15bn and applied it to fixing the leaks and subsidising rainwater harvesting, and some education on being more frugal with our usage, I reckon that would fix the problem - and it wouldn't have the huge energy usage side-effect associated with a water grid.

 

We will pipe you the water down, only want you to pipe some sunshine back
fair exchange is no robbery :-)

Jack McH

 

Careful Jack - insist on the Sunshine first.

 

According to the BBC tonight, there are more Flood Warnings than there are Drought Orders.
Over to you Mr Water Authority - justify the Hosepipe Bans!