Drought

Ive just heard on the radio that some areas in the south are declared drought areas. They haven't elaborated on what this will involve but I assume a hosepipe ban for starters? This will impact on lots of people who want to grow their own (as I was planning).

Several ideas were put forward, piping water down from the north, desalination plants using seawater but costs were always an obstacle.

I'll forgo my shower if I have enough water for the dogs to drink!

Re: Drought

Hi Lynn I think it said the drought area extends up to Gloucester?
I am in the next county and in a high risk area.
We had three months without rain last summer and small local rivers dried up necessitating the removal of fish to safe areas.

I 'grow my own' on a small scale and water my veg with a bucket

Re: Drought

Essex Water have just sent out booklets about our services...they have updated their plans to 'temporary use bans' instead of the old 'hosepipe ban' but they don't anticipate a water shortage for this year.
Quote from the booklet - "With all the talk of climate change and global warming it seems more frequent droughts are inevitable. However, with the right kind of management and with everyone doing their best not to waste water, a drought doesn't have to have a damaging impact"

I am 'growing my own' (in a small way) too Meg. We have three water butts, one large from the roof and two small ones from the greenhouse. Last year we watered all fruit and salad from those and all our pots. When it rained we filled up a couple of buckets so as not to waste any and they lasted us all summer.

Re: Drought

I saw it on the news tonight, its hard to imagine that there's a a drought in the south when we have so much water up north!

Re: Drought

Heard it on the news as well. Apparently they're going to bring a hose-pipe ban in soon!!!! No shortage of water here, and its never stopped raining here all day!

Re: Drought

It never stops flipping raining up here, but we do have a de-salination plant in nearby Southport. Also, close to where I live there are man-made reservoirs as well. The nearest to where I live is Belmont Reservoir near Bolton and I think that's where the water for Wigan comes from, but I think some water must be piped from The Lake District in Cumbria as well. It's very rare we have a water shortage (usually the opposite) but I have seen the rivers and canals very low on the odd occasion, but more often they burst their banks.

I don't agree with piping water from the North to the South, purely from an economical point of view. It would cost an absolute fortune in pipe laying for a start, and I reckon the water quality would be lost after it's travelled a few hundred miles, not to mention the cost to the householder as well.

There must be de-salination plants down in the South of England, and reservoirs, surely?

Re: Drought

Why dont they try tipping the world one way so that all our water, and we have more than enough, runs down to the south.

They complain when it is cold and rejoice in the warmer temperatures now they are complaining about water shortage.

Hey you cant have a warm climate and a wet one as well, take you choice.

Re: Drought

The only answer in my view is to have a national grid for water as there is no shortage in some parts of the country as has already been said. Mollie you say it would be too expensive to pump water from North to South but the cost of desalinization plants is incredibly high. They have one on Jersey but would only ever use it as a last resort.

Re: Drought

Yes you can, isn't it called the tropics?

London had the first desalination plant at Beckton, so Londoners will never be without water, so why can't other areas have them?

Re: Drought

We have six reservoirs in the South West and there are plans for another new major reservoir in Somerset to meet the demands of the population growth in the region.

Like everyone else, we still get the Save Water notices throughout the summer.