Hosepipe ban

[AJB Temple]

We have a hosepipe ban in Kent, as of Friday last week. So obviously since then it has hammered it down with rain, as it is doing right now and forecast to continue all day. The stream has burst over the bank and flooded the orchard.

 

[Blackswanwood]

It is ironic. We have an underground rainwater harvesting tank which hasn’t run out despite the need for Yorkshire Water to bring in a hosepipe ban. I don’t understand when the pictures are shown of empty reservoirs in times of drought why there are not bulldozers and earthmovers deepening them so they can hold more when the rain returns.

 

[SamQ aka Ah! Q!]

don’t understand when the pictures are shown of empty reservoirs in times of drought why there are not bulldozers and earthmovers deepening them so they can hold more when the rain returns.

Robert, it may be to do with the lining material. Impervious clay is commonly found, retaining the water. If digging goes through that layer and allows water to escape into other porous layers, the (very good) idea becomes self-defeating.

 

[Doug]

Water companies lose 20% of the water they purify through leaks from their systems before it even reaches consumers taps & have done for years. Until we have better governance over the water companies nothing will change.
We are having far more winter flooding than ever before & a noticeable trend over at least the last decade for long hot dry spells in the summer, it’s not rocket science that we need larger storage reservoirs for this winter excess to combat the summer droughts but as with most of these things nothing gets done.

 

[StevieB]

To be fair, two new reservoirs have just been approved*, one less than a mile from my house. Sounds good until you realise that it is only being put in to service lots of new 3 storey rabbit hutches around Cambridge for people with more money than sense to buy, and it will not be operational until at least 2035. But it will apparently look like an ammonite from the air, so that's alright then. The fact these are the first reservoirs to be approved in many many years pretty much supports your point, yet our bills keep rising by more than inflation for some unknown reason!

*subject to multiple planning approvals, reviews, NIMBY objections and funding being confirmed

 

[Artiglio]

When UK signed up to the eu water directive , it was soon realised the costs were going to be significant and water was privatised. Up until the 80’s on south coast most sewage was dumped via effectively victorian outfalls that were barely beyond the low water mark. With little or no control of release to coincide with tides. The privatised suppliers did the investment to bring us up to the then required standard but little additional capacity in reserve.
(I worked on the Fowey resewerage system in the 90’s, up til then many of the properties on the rivers edge had its own pipe straight into the river.)
Politicians being what they are, just wanted minimum cost compliance and low bills to make themselves look good to the public. I don’t know about everyone else but until very recently , my water bill was inconsequential less than £1 a day. Leaving the water companies to extract the max in profits and not make them improve their systems so long as they kept bills pretty well static was never going to work out well especially given the nations fast growing population.
That train wreck has now hit the buffers and all those pent/ delayed bill increases will be coming thick and fast.

People complain about the seas not being clean , those same people should visit a coastal treatment/pumping station and see the material collected from the bandscreens, watercompanies have become refuse/waste collectors as well as dealing with sewage, if people want the convenience of being able to flush nappies, sanitary products, cotton buds, wet wipes etc etc it’s going to add considerably to water costs. In the 80’s gill netting fisherman would retrieve nets covered in the velcro tabs from disposable nappies, not so much of an issue these days.

 

[Lons]

How can anyone be surprised there are water shortages when apart from climate change there has been very little provision made for the increasing population (don't mention the "I" word),

New houses are being built currently at the rate of between 150000 to 250000 pa in England alone and the ginger growler wants that increased to over 300000pa. How are they going to supply clean water and extract and treat waste from another 1.5m homes planned by 2029. It's pie in the sky politician dreams.

It's not rocket science and you don't need to be a mathematical genius to compute, or that the water companies haven't had enough notice, or that they don't know they're wasting all that water, it's been happening for as long as I remember.

 

[Cabinetman]

Did I see a news flash on my phone yesterday that said that Ofwat is being disbanded? Didn’t pay attention at the time.

 

[Dr.Al]

Did I see a news flash on my phone yesterday that said that Ofwat is being disbanded? Didn’t pay attention at the time.

I think they're effectively merging it with various other organisations. It sounds like the water monitoring function is currently split across Ofwat, the Environment Agency and a couple of others that I've forgotten already. They're going to create a new watchdog that does everything. They're calling that "disbanding", but I'm sure a lot of the people who work for Ofwat and the relevant bits of the Environment Agency etc will end up in the new body.