What about water…?

[srb7677]

That's not fair at all. There is sensible spending and there is the other thing. I was just trying to find a way to let everyone self help. Water storage on everyone's home ground provided by whatever rain we do get would keep the country clean and green at least. Thirst would be separate.

It makes sense for those who own their own property and have access to an outdoor area of it, at least a back yard if not a garden area, where a water bowser can be stored.

But private tenants are never going to spend money on that when they have no meaningful security of tenure, and their landlords have nothing to gain by doing it for them.

As for myself, living in a communal block of flats without so much as my own balcony let alone yard or garden, it is not really practicable. 

Legislation requiring the addition of water bowsers on all non-cummunal new builds which have their own outside areas would make sense and would add very little in the way of additional costs. The cost of a water bowser after all would be utterly minimal compared to the cost of a house.

But how we encourage all existing homeowners and landlords to supply bowsers would require more thought. Neither landlords nor their tenants are likely to without there being something in it for them.

[T00ts]

It makes sense but a lot of investment would be needed for that, something you are usually averse to.

   That's not fair at all. There is sensible spending and there is the other thing. I was just trying to find a way to let everyone self help. Water storage on everyone's home ground provided by whatever rain we do get would keep the country clean and green at least. Thirst would be separate.

[srb7677]

A nasty disease - if jabs are the way forward I wouldn't hesitate. Why can it not be made some sort of law that all properties should have rainwater provision? Water butts, or sunken reservoirs under all gardens, from downpipes, under carparks etc. This could then be tapped for gardens, green spaces and if thought out properly available for purification for the taps.

It makes sense but a lot of investment would be needed for that, something you are usually averse to.

[T00ts]

Mentioning vaccine, all children aged one to nine and living in Greater London will be offered a polio vaccine after the virus was detected in sewage.
The virus, which can cause paralysis, has been found 116 times in London's wastewater since February.
The urgent immunisation campaign will see nearly a million children offered the vaccine - including those already up to date with their jabs...

A nasty disease - if jabs are the way forward I wouldn't hesitate. Why can it not be made some sort of law that all properties should have rainwater provision? Water butts, or sunken reservoirs under all gardens, from downpipes, under carparks etc. This could then be tapped for gardens, green spaces and if thought out properly available for purification for the taps.

[patman post]

Mentioning vaccine, all children aged one to nine and living in Greater London will be offered a polio vaccine after the virus was detected in sewage.
The virus, which can cause paralysis, has been found 116 times in London's wastewater since February.
The urgent immunisation campaign will see nearly a million children offered the vaccine - including those already up to date with their jabs...

[Sheepy]

Anyone fixed the Sun yet? Erm no Sheepy, but we have sent the plebs some dark clouds, in summer they will panic about lack of fresh water which was easily fixed you bad lad, wait until the winter they will be in full panic when it gets cold and they are hungry, we are going to make fortunes out of fixing it every year. Of course, they will be happy as they will have nothing but what we give them out of the goodness of our hearts. They will fall at our feet and beg us for more, just like a nice vaccine, which you and your chums put the boot into that one, this one won't be so easily stopped after a couple of years. 

[patman post]

In another piece of bad luck for the water companies, a water main burst today at 7 am causing a 4ft (121.92 cm) flood in the London borough of Islington.

More than 70 firefighters went to the scene, where one resident said houses had water above the bottom of their doors.

https://news.sky.com/story/burst-water-main-causes-4ft-flood-in-london-borough-of-islington-12668406

[Borchester]

200cm is rather a lot Borky.

Nearly as much as they used in Dartford:
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/dartford/news/sinkhole-opens-in-street-after-burst-water-main-271548/

The garden is a bit bogey Barry, but I can already see a few green shoots among the brown mat of the lawn and this week's heatwave should make it even better.

We have barely touched the garden at the rural slum and I am really looking forward to licking it into shape

[Barry]

200cm is rather a lot Borky.

Nearly as much as they used in Dartford:
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/dartford/news/sinkhole-opens-in-street-after-burst-water-main-271548/

[Borchester]

There used to be talk of building a 'water grid' for Britain. It's very rare that the country as a whole is short of water, droughts are mostly regional. If water could be moved around the country more easily, then water shortages would be much less frequent.

It is a nice idea, but it hinges on the idea that we all live on the plains. Most of us don't and even pumping water a few feet vertically requires mega quantities of energy.

I have had the sprinklers going full blast for the last three days, which has given the garden about 8" or 200cm of water, ie a really really good soak. A neighbour poked his head over the fence and said something about the environment and I said F@@@ the environment, those plants are my wife's pride and joy whereupon his wife said that's right.

We ended up with the neighbour's kids and dog dancing in and out of the spray caused by the sprinklers, the neighbour's wife sun bathing in their garden and the neighbour radiating well mannered disapproval as I explained why I thought Global Warming was a load of balls.

A good day  

[HDQQ]

The UK is made up of islands surrounded by water.

If Dubai and Israel can run of desalinated water, what's holding the UK back from making all the freshwater it wants...?

There used to be talk of building a 'water grid' for Britain. It's very rare that the country as a whole is short of water, droughts are mostly regional. If water could be moved around the country more easily, then water shortages would be much less frequent.

[patman post]

As predicted.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2035%3A2&version=NIRV

Not always easy to believe what's said.

For example, Psalm 51:7 — Hyssop's quite pleasant, though I'm not up to speed with its cleansing qualities. However, the latter part of that couplet is completely wrong, and I can say so from personal experience...

[Streetwalker]

I turned on the sprinkler yesterday and left it to give the garden a good soak. I reckon that Madam's plants will have had the equivalent of 75mm (3" ) by mid day. That should see us through any hosepipe ban

Hosepipe ban ? There are so many exemptions on using them those who want to usually will . 

But as  JoG has pointed out overpopulation  is the cause of many of our shortages water included 

[Sheepy]

Desalinated water is rather more expensive than the stuff that falls out of the sky for free. And we usually have enough of the latter to make the former economically unviable and unnecessary. In this respect we are quite unlike Dubai and Israel.

In these harsh economic times especially, none of us want to pay more than we have to for water as well. Of course, weather is unpredictable and unreliable and we will get occasional dry spells that may sometimes be prolonged. But annually we do still tend to get enough water for sufficient storage capacity to get us through the dry spells being the best answer.

Only if our climate were to change so markedly that we had insufficient water all year round would desalination plants become a necessity. We are nowhere near that point right now.

Rainwater everywhere on Earth unsafe to drink due to 'forever chemicals', study finds (msn.com)
Which really comes down to what John was saying although ground water is cleaned by draining through rock as a natural process, I believe,I still find it very odd, that the same companies who are meant to be responsible for your drinking water poison it at the same time.

[T00ts]

Highly amusing and missing the point entirely. Good old banter.
A good percentage of our water goes on watering the garden, as my wife is a keen gardener and does not want the hundreds of pounds worth of plants to die in the dry weather. She waters then with a can each night. When we have rain water from the barrel we use that, but of course, in dry weather it is soon gone. We are going to install another soon. It's measures like that which can help to save water.

Of course, the leaks need to be fixed, but they seem less important than the profits.

I have 3 water butts. 2 feeding off the garage roof but one by the kitchen waste outlets. It's a bit of a bind but both waste pipes have screw type connections for the last half metre, this allows extensions which then go into bowls/bucket/watering can which are hand emptied into the nearest water butt.