How the **** can we still be in drought?

[dune]

With rivers across the midlands and south bursting their banks.

[Smirking_Saint]

Just because we have flash floods does not make up for resevoirs being half full and 2 years of dry weather, and I thought you were an intelligent man ?

 

That said it is ****ing rediculous, there are april showers then there is this crap

[pedg]

Because most of these rivers run into the sea. In the south a lot of the water is drawn from underground aquifers. When it rains really hard the top soil becomes waterlogged so most water runs off into rivers and little makes it way down to where it is needed.

[buctootim]

Wettest April for a century. Trouble is when you get rain in the Spring / summer it mostly gets sucked up by the trees / vegetation. You need winter rain to fill up the aquifers.

[Snopper]

The wettest drought I can ever remember.....

[dune]

We haven't had flash floods. Boscastle was a flash flood. This is prolonged period of wet weather, and I never thought you were very bright anyway.

[scally]

When the rivers are as high as they are now why don't they pump some of that water into the reservoirs and fill them back up?

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

Didn't the water companies say because the ground was so hard it wasn't seeping through which means their underground stores are still low?

Edited 30 April, 2012 by Thorpe-le-Saint

[Ken Tone]

This is what happens with global warming, however caused. We will get increasingly extreme spells of weather - hot dry spells, high winds, 'biblical' downpours, droughts and floods. Only a matter of time till we get a plague of locusts and frogs!

[anothersaintinsouthsea]

The basic answer is that our water companies are complacent and have been allowed to under-invest in infrastructure. Sure it has been dry in the South over the last year or two compared to other years But 1. Other parts of this small island have had plenty of excess. 2. Hardly a drought compared to Australia etc. 3. An absolute shedload has fallen in the last month.

 

Unfortunately, another example of a poorly designed privatisation.

[Smirking_Saint]

We haven't had flash floods. Boscastle was a flash flood. This is prolonged period of wet weather, and I never thought you were very bright anyway.

 

My employers would tend to disagree, though your probably not best place to make a character assessment anyway.

Edited 30 April, 2012 by Smirking_Saint

[Saintandy666]

Oh dear oh dear. Didn't you do geography at school?! It's winter rain that is needed to prevent droughts. In the summer, it is gobbled up by plants or just runs off the dry land. Remember, most water isn't drinking water. What you are saying is equivalent to when a school child says 'How can there be a water shortage when there are oceans?'

[Turkish]

Oh dear oh dear. Didn't you do geography at school?! It's winter rain that is needed to prevent droughts. In the summer, it is gobbled up by plants or just runs off the dry land. Remember, most water isn't drinking water. What you are saying is equivalent to when a school child says 'How can there be a water shortage when there are oceans?'

 

And what did the teacher say Andy?

[Smirking_Saint]

He probably said "will everyone stop picking on Andy please"

[Whitey Grandad]

Oh dear oh dear. Didn't you do geography at school?! It's winter rain that is needed to prevent droughts. In the summer, it is gobbled up by plants or just runs off the dry land. Remember, most water isn't drinking water. What you are saying is equivalent to when a school child says 'How can there be a water shortage when there are oceans?'

But this is neither winter nor summer so what does that mean?

[Thedelldays]

Oh dear oh dear. Didn't you do geography at school?! It's winter rain that is needed to prevent droughts. In the summer, it is gobbled up by plants or just runs off the dry land. Remember, most water isn't drinking water. What you are saying is equivalent to when a school child says 'How can there be a water shortage when there are oceans?'

such a sarmy little ****

 

since when is april classed as summer?

[Whitey Grandad]

such a sarmy little ****

 

since when is april classed as summer?

Certainly not this year.

[dune]

What you are saying is equivalent to when a school child says 'How can there be a water shortage when there are oceans?'

 

Well it's right. Gibraltar have an effective desalination plant which combined with the water collection slope on the east side provides potable water for a population of 30,000.

[Sheaf Saint]

The simple answer is that the privatisation of the water companies has resulted in massive under-investment in infrastructure to make sure the shareholders get their dividends instead, and as a result the water networks in the UK lose millions of gallons of water every day through leaks that the companies can't be bothered/afford to fix.

[Huffton]

How come Dubai never runs out of water? Phil? ah yes, they spend money on desalination plants. This country is a ****ing joke, the privatised water companies would rather fit everyone with water meters, thus making them more money, than fix the broken pipes that are pouring the stuff back into the ground.

[BadgerBadger]

The basic answer is that our water companies are complacent and have been allowed to under-invest in infrastructure. Sure it has been dry in the South over the last year or two compared to other years But 1. Other parts of this small island have had plenty of excess. 2. Hardly a drought compared to Australia etc. 3. An absolute shedload has fallen in the last month.

 

Unfortunately, another example of a poorly designed privatisation.

This, this and this

[Thedelldays]

How come Dubai never runs out of water? Phil? ah yes, they spend money on desalination plants. This country is a ****ing joke, the privatised water companies would rather fit everyone with water meters, thus making them more money, than fix the broken pipes that are pouring the stuff back into the ground.

I dunno....When I got a meter my water bill was literally cut in half...I pay f-all really

[Huffton]

I dunno....When I got a meter my water bill was literally cut in half...I pay f-all really

 

It will be if there is just one or two of you in a house/flat, but families will generally pay more than they do now. I'm not saying its wrong as I don't have a problem in paying for whay I use, it just riles the **** out of me that they do this rather than fix the obvious reasons why they are running out of water.

[Thedelldays]

It will be if there is just one or two of you in a house/flat, but families will generally pay more than they do now. I'm not saying its wrong as I don't have a problem in paying for whay I use, it just riles the **** out of me that they do this rather than fix the obvious reasons why they are running out of water.

what is the problem in paying for what you use..?

[Whitey Grandad]

I dunno....When I got a meter my water bill was literally cut in half...I pay f-all really

Yup, me too a few years ago. If you've got more bedrooms than people then a meter's reckoned to save you money.

[Saintandy666]

such a sarmy little ****

 

since when is april classed as summer?

 

I'm just giving out the same derision Dune gives me every post. It's fairness.

 

It's not winter rain.

[Saintandy666]

Well it's right. Gibraltar have an effective desalination plant which combined with the water collection slope on the east side provides potable water for a population of 30,000.

 

Desalination is very expensive though. We need to build a pipe from north to south.

[Saintandy666]

Just a matter of understanding averages really isn't it.

 

People in this country do obsess over weather though! It's sunny for a day and they act like it's some mega-heatwave and when it rains for a day, they act like it always rains.

Edited 30 April, 2012 by Saintandy666

[Smirking_Saint]

Desalination is very expensive though. We need to build a pipe from north to south.

 

And how exactly do you propose building a ****ing pipe from north to south oh great one ? Wow us with your worldly knowledge

[Turkish]

And how exactly do you propose building a ****ing pipe from north to south oh great one ? Wow us with your worldly knowledge

 

And while he's there how building a pipe 300 odd miles long is going to be cheaper than desalination.

[dune]

Desalination is very expensive though. We need to build a pipe from north to south.

 

Of course we don't - do you realise how heavy water is and therefore how expensive it would be to move it? We need to build more reservoirs.

[Saintandy666]

And how exactly do you propose building a ****ing pipe from north to south oh great one ? Wow us with your worldly knowledge

 

I have absolutely no idea. However, having consulted google - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17078727 - I found that and it seems it can be done, but investing in infrastructure for the south-east would be cheaper. So I shall withdraw that post and say we need to invest in infrastructure. Will private companies be keen to do that?

[Saintandy666]

Of course we don't - do you realise how heavy water is and therefore how expensive it would be to move it? We need to build more reservoirs.

 

Fair enough. But will private companies want to do that?

[Saintandy666]

And while he's there how building a pipe 300 odd miles long is going to be cheaper than desalination.

 

The cost would apparently be £2.6bn. Do you know how much desalination plants to do the same job would cost?

[Smirking_Saint]

And while he's there how building a pipe 300 odd miles long is going to be cheaper than desalination.

 

[dune]

Fair enough. But will private companies want to do that?

 

I don't know, but for you or anyone to say we are in drought is ludicrous. Have you ever been abroad to a hot country?

[Smirking_Saint]

The cost would apparently be £2.6bn. Do you know how much desalination plants to do the same job would cost?

 

It most certainly would cost vastly more than that, and would take years

 

Edit - actually it might not, but one would argue if they ploughed that expense into fixing the leaks they may not even need it

Edited 30 April, 2012 by Smirking_Saint

[Saintandy666]

It most certainly would cost vastly more than that, and would take years

 

True that, projects always go over budget and time, but I was just quoting 'official figures'. Having looked at the cost of desalination plants however, it would still probably be cheaper. I think Dune's extra reservoirs are probably the best way?

[dune]

The cost would apparently be £2.6bn. Do you know how much desalination plants to do the same job would cost?

 

Probably as inefficient and pointless as the wind turbines that the tree hugging liberals love so much.

[Saintandy666]

I don't know, but for you or anyone to say we are in drought is ludicrous. Have you ever been abroad to a hot country?

 

But we are in a drought. Water levels in underground stores are lower than they were in 1976(and I'm sure you can remember that and tell stories even if I can't). Rain at this time of year apparently is the 'wrong type' of rain, because it is taken all up by plants and doesn't sink into the underground stores.

[Saintandy666]

Probably as inefficient and pointless as the wind turbines that the tree hugging liberals love so much.

 

What energy source do you suggest for the future? I think a mixture of many is the safest and most secure way to go. But we could definitely harness a lot of tidal power, and more research needs to be done into throium based nuclear power.

[dune]

But we are in a drought. Water levels in underground stores are lower than they were in 1976(and I'm sure you can remember that and tell stories even if I can't). Rain at this time of year apparently is the 'wrong type' of rain, because it is taken all up by plants and doesn't sink into the underground stores.

 

If it's all taken up by plants why are the rivers in spate?

[Smirking_Saint]

Probably as inefficient and pointless as the wind turbines that the tree hugging liberals love so much.

 

What would happen when the 'pipe' started leaking ?

 

Lets not talk Wind turbines, we are setting ourselves up for a fall, despite the fact they will pay for my pension.

[Saintandy666]

If it's all taken up by plants why are the rivers in spate?

 

I don't know, but just because I don't know it doesn't mean you are right or that I am right. But experts have said this, and I trust them.

[Gigersaint]

Never understood how we get so much rain in this country and we get water shortages, yet go away on Holiday to countries that get sun all year around and little rain, they hose down their pavements every morning and have running water features etc without any shortage... Why do we struggle so much with water supply and hosepipe bans? What do these hot Countries do that we don't?

[Saintandy666]

Never understood how we get so much rain in this country and we get water shortages, yet go away on Holiday to countries that get sun all year around and little rain, they hose down their pavements every morning and have running water features etc without any shortage... Why do we struggle so much with water supply and hosepipe bans? What do these hot Countries do that we don't?

 

I think that in the south east over the past 2 years, as an average, we haven't had much rain at all in the winter and apparently it is the winter rain which is important.

[Smirking_Saint]

What energy source do you suggest for the future? I think a mixture of many is the safest and most secure way to go. But we could definitely harness a lot of tidal power, and more research needs to be done into throium based nuclear power.

 

We should have embraced nuclear long ago, but too many people are scared of it

[dune]

Never understood how we get so much rain in this country and we get water shortages, yet go away on Holiday to countries that get sun all year around and little rain, they hose down their pavements every morning and have running water features etc without any shortage... Why do we struggle so much with water supply and hosepipe bans? What do these hot Countries do that we don't?

 

Because what little water these countries get they store. If you go to any hot country you'll rarely see rivers that flow to the sea any more (large water courses excepted) because they dam them up stream.

[Saintandy666]

We should have embraced nuclear long ago, but too many people are scared of it

 

With reason I guess, post-Chernobyl... but Nuclear Power plants have apparently changed a lot since then. The problem is the waste, which is why thorium is much better as a source as the radioactivity is nowhere near as bad, down to half lives I think.

 

I think Uranium based nuclear power can only be a stepping stone due to the waste. We need renewables like tidal to come through. Or just to crack nuclear fission...

Edited 30 April, 2012 by Saintandy666

[dune]

With reason I guess, post-Chernobyl... but Nuclear Power plants have apparently changed a lot since then. The problem is the waste, which is why thorium is much better as a source as the radioactivity is nowhere near as bad, down to half lives I think.

 

Dump it in the oceans. Simple.