Water shortages are looming

[Linford]

Glad I don't live in the London area if the reports are to believed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17091256

I know that the climate change drum is being banged hard, but I consider this water issue to be an immediate and pressing problem which wil affect the lives of millions of people, and it is happening right now - unlike the effects of climate change which may affect low lying area's.

If the population is allowed to continue to expand in an already densly populated area, something is going to have to give isn't it ?

Should the population/new house building growth in the SE be stymed, or should the infrastucture be ramped up to cope with ever increasing demand ?

(site rules determine I post this here BTW, but I couldn't think of a better place to discuss this)

 

[Linford]

I saw the plans for that. Ultimately, a desalination plant is a giant kettle, and aren't that eco friendly. That one is supposed to be running on biofuel IIRC.

Got loads of these desalinators in Saudi, but ultimately are burning oil to make fresh water (I guess that is why the carbon footprint of the average Qatar resident is 55 tonnes of CO2 ehac year in comparison to ours at just under 9 tonnes).

 

[Gromit]

Yep I'm afraid we reach the peak water crisis years ago in other countries around the world other than here. Now we are seeing it happening here two.

We need to look at reducing water use in food growing, hence why I'm looking into using different reclaimed waters in hydroponics.

Large scale farming using sprinkler systems and water extraction licences are going to push up food prices.

 

[User482]

A simple but effective solution is for the various water companies to join up their pipes thus providing a national grid. There seems to be plenty of water in the NW and not enough in the SE - the problem is getting it to the right place. Thames Water is investing in a desalination plant but this will be hugely expensive. Whatever happens will take ages and needs central co-ordination, so in the meantime, I'll be drinking my own urine as a contribution to water saving. (Don't worry, I won't post pictures)

A water grid cannot be justified on economic or environmental grounds. Moving large volumes of a heavy, cheap substance is prohibitively expensive when you consider the cost of the energy inputs required to make it happen. And if you transfer large volumes of water from a catchment, you will damage its ecology and character.

 

[Linford]

Interesting that Caroline Spellman and the Director of Strategy was arguing for this on the radio at lunch time. I'm no expert and I agree that you make a good point - but how do you deal with a surplus in one area and a shortage in another?

Move the people Ooop north

 

[User482]

Interesting that Caroline Spellman and the Director of Strategy was arguing for this on the radio at lunch time. I'm no expert and I agree that you make a good point - but how do you deal with a surplus in one area and a shortage in another?

It's probably a mistake to assume that there's always going to be a surplus available - I recall a drought in the mid 1990s affecting most of the UK, so I can't imagine the residents of (say) the Lake District being too happy about their water disappearing to London...

Dealing with the shortage is simple but unpalatable - use less. I think that's going to mean a review of what we grow in East Anglia...

 

[Linford]

It's probably a mistake to assume that there's always going to be a surplus available - I recall a drought in the mid 1990s affecting most of the UK, so I can't imagine the residents of (say) the Lake District being too happy about their water disappearing to London...

Dealing with the shortage is simple but unpalatable - use less. I think that's going to mean a review of what we grow in East Anglia...

do you not feel like this is a sticking plaster on the problem though. The demand will continue to rise as the population does also. I could envisage a time where office blocks and hotels will have their own water brought in by tanker to guarantee continuity of supply if the source becomes so limited. There are already a few cities i the world where water is on ration due to demand.

 

[dellzeqq]

I know it's an old idea, but use the canals. They've got a greater cross-sectional area than the London ring main, and most of them are sheet-piled. The downside would be that when you were pumping water over the high points canal boats would be washed along like plastic ducks. The upside would be that you could have canal boat races, with celebrity crews competing for charidee.

It's just an idea, mind......

 

[User482]

do you not feel like this is a sticking plaster on the problem though. The demand will continue to rise as the population does also. I could envisage a time where office blocks and hotels will have their own water brought in by tanker to guarantee continuity of supply if the source becomes so limited. There are already a few cities i the world where water is on ration due to demand.

The problems are i) we are continuing to build and develop in the areas of lowest rainfall and ii) we're still massively wasteful.

 

[Linford]

The problems are i) we are continuing to build and develop in the areas of lowest rainfall and ii) we're still massively wasteful.

They reckon that 25% of the water pumped in the city gest lost o the leaks. Still, I guess it helps to keep the water table high due to the concreting over of all the green spaces there

 

[ASC1951]

Move the people Ooop north

No, no - you Southern Poofs stay where you are!

As User482 says, just use less. Most of the world manages perfectly well on less water than SE England has per head; and up here, we like the image of every drop from the Thames having been through six Londoners already.

 

[Linford]

I know it's an old idea, but use the canals. They've got a greater cross-sectional area than the London ring main, and most of them are sheet-piled. The downside would be that when you were pumping water over the high points canal boats would be washed along like plastic ducks. The upside would be that you could have canal boat races, with celebrity crews competing for charidee.

It's just an idea, mind......

Having taken a few Narrow boat holidays, I don't think that the majority of canals could cope with a large flow of water along them. all the locks would need a substantial redesign, and would need replumbing to catch the water when it gets to a ascending flight of them. There is also the issue that most canals are barely 4ft deep, and are lined with clay. This would get eroded in a short amount of time and many would start to leak. There is also the issue that they are wildlifehavens and with so much water flowing through from another part of the country, that the ecosystems could be destroyed or at the very least seriously damaged.

 

[srw]

New-linf really is rather sensible, isn't he?

 

[Linford]

No, no - you Southern Poofs stay where you are!

As User482 says, just use less. Most of the world manages perfectly well on less water than SE England has per head; and up here, we like the image of every drop from the Thames having been through six Londoners already.

I live about 5 miles from the river Severn which comes from the welsh hills so it isn't an issue for me. We had some major shortages here in 2007, but that was because the treatment plant was damaged at Tewkesbury. No tap water for 3 weeks was not something I'd ever want to experience again. It certainly gives you perspective on how valuable it is to life. I was flushing the loo with Evian

 

[ohnovino]

IIRC there was a drought recently that affected us northerners but the south was fine. Something to do with the north's water being concentrated in open reservoirs and the south having more underground water. But I can't remember the details so there's a very good chance I'm talking rubbish, although not as much as...

Someone on the BBC news this morning suggested they should bring the snow down from Scotland in tankers.....

I saw that too. I particularly enjoyed the presenters nodding sagely as if they thought it was a sensible idea!