Drought Watch

[Nick L]

We've had 3.2mm since the 2nd. And it doesn't look like we'll get more than that the next couple of weeks either.

[minus 9]

Well here's my back lawn. We're even suffering here in Gloucestershire. That's with a splash of rain we had last night, not as bad as the se but still struggling. 

[Terminal Moraine]

It's been a dry month here too but nothing to compare with further south. We had 10 mm of rain overnight and the total for the month will probably end up around 50% of the 30 year average.

[Summer Sun]

July is turning into a reasonably wet month after a very dry opening 3 weeks we're now on 59.1mm for the month with 37.6mm falling since Monday and 18.8mm of that just since midnight!

[Bristawl Si]

Being an island (s), surrounded by water, why isnt there desalination plants around the coastline?

[MP-R]

This summer is definitely the summer of ‘any rain on weekends’. Enough to ruin outdoor events but barely enough for the plants and grass.

[Nick L]

17 minutes ago, Bristle Si said:

Being an island (s), surrounded by water, why isnt there desalination plants around the coastline?

The cost involved I suspect and the private water companies aren't so keen on splashing out (excuse the pun!). Pretty sure the likes of Fuerteventura get all their water from desalination plants, however.

It's an energy-intensive process but as an island that has ample potential for renewable energy I think it's something that has to be considered, especially considering climate change and population growth. As ever in this country though, short-termism trumps long term thinking.

[minus10]

45 minutes ago, Nick L said:

The cost involved I suspect and the private water companies aren't so keen on splashing out (excuse the pun!). Pretty sure the likes of Fuerteventura get all their water from desalination plants, however.

It's an energy-intensive process but as an island that has ample potential for renewable energy I think it's something that has to be considered, especially considering climate change and population growth. As ever in this country though, short-termism trumps long term thinking.

Yes Nick...could they not use tidal energy to power desalination plants?

[mountain shadow]

1 hour ago, minus10 said:

Yes Nick...could they not use tidal energy to power desalination plants?

Surely piping fresh water from the Scottish lochs would be cheaper?

Lochs Ness alone holds more fresh water than all English and Welsh lakes combined.

[Nick L]

10 minutes ago, mountain shadow said:

Surely piping fresh water from the Scottish lochs would be cheaper?

Lochs Ness alone holds more fresh water than all English and Welsh lakes combined.

I mean, if we can build gas pipelines across continents...! 

Like I said. It's outrageous that we can be encountering water shortages after such a (relatively) short period of low rainfall.

[matty40s]

Well, we have had some drizzle today, about 10 minutes of it.....drought is off

[richie3846]

I think we need some perspective here. There are no water shortages for customers, supplies aren't expected to run low for the consumer any time soon, and any restrictions brought in are about protecting the environment, as there can be no abstraction in very low flows. When there is no abstraction for a long period, sensible usage is important to ensure the reservoirs remain at good levels. These are just sensible measures to ensure that we don't need to abstract water from low rivers. It's not an actual water shortage in the way some people are trying to make it out to be. It would be criminal to expect to continue to use huge amounts of water when it hasn't rain for half a year. 

[Nick L]

28 minutes ago, richie3846 said:

I think we need some perspective here. There are no water shortages for customers, supplies aren't expected to run low for the consumer any time soon, and any restrictions brought in are about protecting the environment, as there can be no abstraction in very low flows. When there is no abstraction for a long period, sensible usage is important to ensure the reservoirs remain at good levels. These are just sensible measures to ensure that we don't need to abstract water from low rivers. It's not an actual water shortage in the way some people are trying to make it out to be. It would be criminal to expect to continue to use huge amounts of water when it hasn't rain for half a year. 

While I take your point, 3 billion litres are lost to leaks in the network every DAY. That's a staggering figure that makes me having a minute less in the shower each day seem utterly futile. Again, it's just short termism without actually trying to tackle the long term problems.

Edited July 31, 2022 by Nick L

[richie3846]

4 minutes ago, Nick L said:

While I take your point, 3 billion litres are lost to leaks in the network every DAY. That's a staggering figure that makes me having a minute less in the shower each day seem utterly futile. Again, it's just short termism without actually trying to tackle the long term problems.

I would be interested to see how this compares to the rest of the world, as the number alone sounds bad but as a stand alone figure, I do not know how that compares to other developed countries loss rates, as a percentage. 

[hillbilly]

1 hour ago, Nick L said:

I mean, if we can build gas pipelines across continents...! 

Like I said. It's outrageous that we can be encountering water shortages after such a (relatively) short period of low rainfall.

During the 1995 drought there was talk of piping water from Kielder,which is enormous and could supply the whole of England indefinately.As far as i know none of it was implemented and it would take many years to build but a survey from the Royal Engineers came back that it could be done in as little as 2 months.[from Kielder to Yorkshire]

[*Stormforce~beka*]

Topped up one water butt with the hose pipe tonight!

[HighPressure]

13 hours ago, Nick L said:

The cost involved I suspect and the private water companies aren't so keen on splashing out (excuse the pun!). Pretty sure the likes of Fuerteventura get all their water from desalination plants, however.

It's an energy-intensive process but as an island that has ample potential for renewable energy I think it's something that has to be considered, especially considering climate change and population growth. As ever in this country though, short-termism trumps long term thinking.

Couple of things, there is at least one desalination plant in the UK, Thames Water were building one at Beckon on the north bank of the Thames when I left. It using a desalination technique known about since the 1st book on water treatment called Reverse Osmosis. I understand the plant cost @£250m and can produce @140-150Mld, and it cost about double that of standard water treatment, but a lot cheaper than other methods.

The Chinese have a huge transfer scheme underway, it just shows what can be down if the will is there :

 

The South-North Water Transfer Project in China - Internet Geography

WWW.INTERNETGEOGRAPHY.NET

---

The South-North Water Transfer Project in China. Find out about the main features of the project along wit its advantages and disadvantages.

[minus10]

8 hours ago, *Stormforce~beka* said:

Topped up one water butt with the hose pipe tonight!

I have been doing that regularly now for couple of weeks...such fun...

If the gfs0z is anywhere near what happens looks like we will be doing it for some time yet unless hose pipe bans of course..

One of the craziest drought reinforcing  runs ive seen...

Edited August 1, 2022 by minus10

[Weather-history]

1 and 1/2 old pennies for a pail of water at Thetford in  June1921

[richie3846]

It's pretty hard to find information about water leakage performance, but I did find one reliable document. It turns out the Germans are ahead of us, only losing 7% through leakage. However, they are paying a lot for that, €343 per person, compared to €272 England and Wales. With our leakage at 23%, we seem to be about middle of the pack, with Italy at 35% and Ireland a whopping 44%, even though The Irish pay more at €329 per person. France has leakage only marginally below us at 21% yet are paying €521 a head. 

 

So it's a mixed picture with only the Germans ahead of the game, and we are doing averagely compared to the largest 5 countries in Europe. Spain leaks 19%, France 21% and UK 23%, so it seems there is a middle ground where we sit. 

 

The UK has made the largest improvement of the 6 countries with nearly 8% less leakage (not sure of the timescale measured). 

 

So when people shout out figures such as 2bn litres a day lost etc, I thought it may be helpful to have a little context for that, and it appears the UK is 'typical' for a large European country with respect to water leakage vs costs. 

[mountain shadow]

9 hours ago, HighPressure said:

Couple of things, there is at least one desalination plant in the UK, Thames Water were building one at Beckon on the north bank of the Thames when I left. It using a desalination technique known about since the 1st book on water treatment called Reverse Osmosis. I understand the plant cost @£250m and can produce @140-150Mld, and it cost about double that of standard water treatment, but a lot cheaper than other methods.

The Chinese have a huge transfer scheme underway, it just shows what can be down if the will is there :

 

The South-North Water Transfer Project in China - Internet Geography

WWW.INTERNETGEOGRAPHY.NET

---

The South-North Water Transfer Project in China. Find out about the main features of the project along wit its advantages and disadvantages.

 

The difference is, the Chinese are loaded, the UK is massively in debt.

That said, surely it can't be that expensive to pump water from the North to the South? Provided, the North are suitably compensated.

[minus10]

Any hope that the netweather monthly forecast for August will give some hope on the relaxing of the dry conditions has been dashed i'm afraid...

 

Monthly Weather Forecast - Netweather.tv

WWW.NETWEATHER.TV

 

Edited August 1, 2022 by minus10

[*Stormforce~beka*]

2 hours ago, minus10 said:

I have been doing that regularly now for couple of weeks...such fun...

If the gfs0z is anywhere near what happens looks like we will be doing it for some time yet unless hose pipe bans of course..

One of the craziest drought reinforcing  runs ive seen...

Well that's the thing! Hose pipe ban comes in for me on Friday!

 

[minus10]

22 minutes ago, *Stormforce~beka* said:

Well that's the thing! Hose pipe ban comes in for me on Friday!

 

Yes...a problem...looks like you will have to prioritise your waterings from the kitchen sink....veg and special plants/flowers first in queue...

[*Stormforce~beka*]

Just now, minus10 said:

Yes...a problem...looks like you will have to prioritise your waterings from the kitchen sink....veg and special plants/flowers first in queue...

Yes veg first. It's a long walk up to the top of the bleeding garden from here too! Gonna fill a garden bin with water me thinks. Still got the paddling pool up from the heat a few weeks back too. So will use that to empty and water the plants as well