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| Hosepipe Ban - necessary evil?
Posted: 4/15/2012 9:15:11 AM |
Somehow we never address the real problem. The one of overpopulation. We have enough water for a limited population. Build more reserviors and we take up land that could grow food.
You're having a laugh. Have you ever flown over the UK? People are packed into tiny dimensions compared to the vast amounts of land belonging to someone but doing nothing. | |
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| Hosepipe Ban - necessary evil?
Posted: 4/16/2012 10:20:53 AM | People really don't get it do they. We have enough land to feed, enough roads for traffic, enough power to supply our needs and enough water etc. Just to many people . Only 2 countries in Europe have a higher densty per square mile , Belgium and The Nederlands. We have twice the density of France, Poland, Denmark,Thailand and China 365 per sq mile as opposed to our 650 per sq mile. China realised population was getting out of control at that level.
You cannot keep using land for people as land is limited and if used for one thing it cannot be used for another.
We are in a situation that the UK would struggle to feed itself without importing food. Gas is imported from Russia, electricity from France , Oil from the world. We cannot import water in the quantities we need in plastic bottles.
I agree that we do congregate in cities and there we have a problem. If it was medieval times the village would have enough water, land, fuel , power, building materials for its needs . But we live in an age of power use.
Imagine if the Russians cut of the gas or French cut off electricity. Spain stopped supplying fresh fruit and veg...etc etc.
It only took the hint of a tanker strike to cause panic so how long would London survive for if those supplies were cut off. All we hear is how hard done by Mrs x is because her electric is down for 12 hours.
There is currently no ban on water use for drinking , washing, flushing toilets etc. There is sensible advice to stop wasting it on somebody's prize rose bush. Wow !! What a hardship.
I bet most who moan anyway have not used a hosepipe since last September anyway. | |
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| Hosepipe Ban - necessary evil?
Posted: 4/16/2012 3:54:26 PM | | I dont have a hosepipe so theres no chance of me using one , i did hear on the news today that the drought and water shortages may last until christmas . | |
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| Hosepipe Ban - necessary evil?
Posted: 4/17/2012 8:18:31 AM | Unfortunately, we have had a massive increase on the population over the years, and now the impact is showing.
Despite this, the companies I guess, just prayed for rain. They're not lying though, the streams and dykes round here are all but dry, so clearly we haven't had enough rain.
Really we need to start setting up saline processing plants round our coastlines. We're surrounded by sea water, so we should start using it. Every other country seems to have at least a small amount of seawater flowing into their supply. | |
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| Hosepipe Ban - necessary evil?
Posted: 4/17/2012 9:15:03 AM | I remember a long time ago (probably before some of the posters were born, I think I was still at school) there were occasional water shortages, it wasn't every year but one year it must have got really bad.
There were huge water saving campaigns in the media. People were encouraged to 'bath with a friend', use showers instead of baths, save rainwater for gardens and even putting a brick in the toilet cistern so they didn't fill up with so much water. In some places, water was only turned on at specific times of day and in worst cases, standpipes in the streets.
People in the UK are so used to having as much water as they want, whenever they want it that to contemplate having to save any is abhorrent to a lot of people. Some people refuse to see that there are only so many people that this country can sustain comfortably.
Changes in environmental conditions mean that we have to start looking at changes in lifestyle. Farmers will have to start looking at different crops to grow that are resistant to drought and adapt their growing seasons, starting crops earlier or growing later, finding new crops to feed animals on (already some farmers are worried about grass shortages) new houses will have to have water saving features etc etc. The government should also be putting a lot more pressure on water companies to stop leaks and upgrade water pipes.
However, each and every one of us should be looking at our water usage and seeing where we can reduce waste in our own homes/workplaces. It isn't someone elses problem, it is a problem for everyone. | |
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| Hosepipe Ban - necessary evil?
Posted: 4/18/2012 9:01:33 AM | | they lose too much water in leaks,think water meters will become compulsry in the end.come to wales im watering the garden/washing the dog/car lol. england used just take water/flood villages back in the day.think water in future become the new oil.but in uk we cant cope with any weather/incompetence lot of it | |
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| Hosepipe Ban - necessary evil?
Posted: 4/25/2012 1:11:05 PM | As it's been chucking it down on & off for the last few days, I thought I'd just dredge this one up -
TV news is full of how this isn't going to sort the problem, because all this lovely (I sell umbrellas) rain, just runs off the surface & is lost in to our river networks (& flood plains, where we haven't obliterated them with Travelodges).
One of the big problems, in my humble opinion, is that the water companies are still trying to depend on underground aquifers, cheap(ish) but flawed.
A proper distribution grid to push water to where it was needed (why not cross link our rivers & canals?) would sort the problem once and for all. Yeah, sure, it would cost, but so does electricity distribution and mains gas networking.
Will it ever happen? I doubt it, the Companies are not enthusiastic about expense on this scale impacting on their margins. as an aside, the jobs created by doing somerthing like this ON A PROPER SCALE would help the slack in the civils sector - win win!
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| Hosepipe Ban - necessary evil?
Posted: 4/25/2012 4:23:38 PM | I am surprised that water meters are not compulsory. Its interesting that the water companies once gave us a choice of water bills related to the rates we paid or ratable value or a meter. When left on my own I had a water meter fitted. Tat decision is not reversible. What did happen was that my water bills fell to about a quarter of what they were.
I didn't leave hoses running in the garden, turned off taps after the initial rinse of the toothbrush etc.
Heard recently of someone who went from ratable value to meter. Got a shock when bill came in for £1000.
Just showed how much water was wasted in the past.
Yep I'm also half drowned by rain so hosepipe ban is hardly likely to send me screaming into the street !! | |
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| Hosepipe Ban - necessary evil?
Posted: 4/26/2012 1:22:33 AM | ^^^^ One of the reasons that used to be given for non-compulsory meters was that it would be virtually impossible to meter the vast amount of older flats & conversions.
I don't think this is actually true any more, but again, the Companies would have to spend a fortune 'back installing' on older properties; loads easier & cheaper to simply insist on installation in new builds?
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