Hosepipe bans..

[NAILTRAIL96]

To put a nesessity for life in the hands of private enterprise was always going to be a bad idea.

Bearing in mind how governments manage to screw most things up, I'm not sure I agree. People seem to get fed OK without state-run food production. :?

But you have a choice where to buy food and that for the most part keeps the suppliers reasonably honest when it comes to price and service.

 

[FMJ]

Maybe you could ask those nice people over in Canada to sell you some of theirs?

 

[tintin40]

Maybe you could ask those nice people over in Canada to sell you some of theirs?

Float over an iceberg

They are nice people in Canada

 

[velomaniac]

I understand that piping water from up here in dreich Scotland is expensive but so is every other major infrastructure thing. Oil and Gas although important for heat/electricity/petrol etc are not a fundamental requirement for life itself and yet we can pipe it across continents and under seas to where ever its required. Yet we cant run big water pipes from where we have excessive quatities to where its needed only 400 odd miles away because its too expensive.
This country and its short termist investment strategies is utterly ridiculous :roll:

 

[MiniNinjaRob]

There is simply no need for big pipelines, a better approach is more reservoirs down south. Thats a long term solution that will work.

However people down south will fight and tooth and nail not to have their homes compulsorarily purchased to build a reservoir, or have one near them, whilst at the same time complaining that they have no water and something should be done.

From EA website:

Why haven’t we got a national grid to evenly distribute supplies?

Water is very heavy and costly to pump around, so a national water grid would be extremely expensive. It would also damage the environment, both locally and in its heavy use of energy. Our view is that a national grid is not the best solution. This view is shared by Ministers, Consumer Council for Water and the water companies themselves.

It is estimated that building a national grid would cost up to 10 times as much as building new reservoirs closer to the area requiring the water.

The best long-term solution is to use local transfers, to develop local water resources and to help people change the way they use water.

Water is already transferred between areas and it is up to the water companies to ensure they manage their supplies effectively.

Plus I suppose a reservoir can be used for leisure, could promote wildlife (ok it will destroy some in the flooding as well) and can look nice too.

 

[The Ken]

But surely Scotland is higher up than england so it will just flow downhill with gravity?

 

[NAILTRAIL96]

But surely Scotland is higher up than england so it will just flow downhill with gravity?

Yep, just pour it into the sea, collect at the other end.

In all seriousness why wouldn't you want a resevoir near your house?

 

[dyna-ti]

Personally i reckon that the reason is the amount lost through the lack of maintenance because as we all know you cant maximise profit and pay yourself big wages and bonuses if you keep having to spend money on fixing stuff.
If it really really needs doing they will call it 'investment' and take a large chunk from the public purse
The railways have been doing it for decades 10's if not 100's of billions have passed through the train companies hands and we still have old carriages and track systems.

 

[MiniNinjaRob]

Personally i reckon that the reason is the amount lost through the lack of maintenance because as we all know you cant maximise profit and pay yourself big wages and bonuses if you keep having to spend money on fixing stuff.
If it really really needs doing they will call it 'investment' and take a large chunk from the public purse
The railways have been doing it for decades 10's if not 100's of billions have passed through the train companies hands and we still have old carriages and track systems.

We aren't short of water because of leaks. The amount of water falling from the sky isn't enough the fill the underground stores in aquifers or increase river levels. This is long before we make any effort to pump it out (and it potentially be lost in the system somewhere).
If it doesn't fall out the sky we won't have it, simple as that. We have less water available per head of population than some Mediterranean countries because of our population density, so it's easy to imagine us running short when we have 2 winters like the last two which have been very dry.
If you read through the links I put in above you'll read that the water companies have strict targets to reach with how they operate.

 

[MiniNinjaRob]

Try this link.

http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/sustainability/ ... wrole.html