I know quite a few people who have installed automatic irrigation systems in their gardens in the past couple of years. I don't know how the water authorities will view them or regulate their use, but I'd think they use just as much water as hosepipes, if not more.
Far more IMO. Thankfully I have no lawn as we dug it up planted perennials as they are more wildlife friendly
If in drought, do as the Saudis do:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9141282/Drought-first-desalination-opens-in-mainland-Britain-as-water-bosses-warn-of-price-rises.html
- Within weeks, the new £270million plant in east London will begin supplying homes with seawater that has been turned into drinking water.
Desalination plants are costly due to the corrosion caused by the salt, but in this case it should be more cost effective as it will be brackish water rather than sea water. The article says they'll pump at low tide as well, so more freshwater will be flowing. Sounds a good idea and one that could be duplicated on other large rivers, which is where the most dense populations tend to be.
I wonder whether I should buy another water butte, I have been prevaricating about it for a while now, I already have 2 and although I will use them a lot in the summer if I can its only really for about 4 monthsd use. Can I really justify spending £30
what does anyone reckon, are we really going to see stand pipes in the street. as I live at the top of a hill. Water pressure is going to be a problem, I could use water butte water to flush the toilets, am I over reacting.
That's interesting! Do you know how far down the water level is?
My daughter was renovating a house last year and her builder found a well that had been capped. We managed to uncover a small part but dropping stones down it gave us no clue to its depth as they were bouncing off the well sides until we couldn't hear them but we never heard a splash. Her house is on top of a ridge, level with the roof of our house, which is at river level, so groundwater will be a long way down. Sadly, we had to re-cap it because it's right where her drive extension was being built.
Sounds an exciting and worthwhile project! Good luck and let us know how you get on!
Get a large bucket with many holes all over so the water can pass through, obtain 25mm clean chippings and place a few layers in the bottom of the bucket place the pump in the bucket place some more chippings (not too many) around the pump and lower the bucket by rope this should inhibit silt and muck getting into the pump. You could use Geotextile to line the bucket as well but this may inhibit the flow of water to the pump
DeSal plants also use a lot of electricty. They should build them next to nuclear power stations
btw it's the first DeSal plant in Britain (mainland or anywhere). However, there is one on Jersey
Edited by user 14 March 2012 20:21:03(UTC) | Reason: Not specified
Does Gibraltar count as a British Overseas Territory? They have two plants, though Jersey was first to build one.
I have been looking at the weekly forecast here for the supposed "heafty downpours" for the South and South East this coming week end, in my particular postcode, each time I look the amount are diminishing, we will probably end up with hardly any as usual
Edited by user 15 March 2012 14:50:50(UTC) | Reason: Not specified
There has been a tendency for the progged amounts to be reduced but I think we should still do OK..say 10-15mm (not brilliant admittedly )
We have a feature on the kent weather solutions website (that some may have seen) regarding the lack of rainfall. My rainfall stats over the last 3 and a bit years are shown here month on month and it tells a rather dry story.
http://www.kentweathersolutions.com/#/rainfall/4555326513
26 out of the last 39 months have been below average relative to the long term norm.
The Meto forecast is showing heavy rain for here on Saturday, but we'll see. The last time heavy rain was forecast, we had 8mm bringing our monthly total to 11mm, though that's more than we had in the whole of February and more than the 8.3mm we had last March.
Next year I'll probably be complaining we've got too much rain! I clearly remember all the rain we had in June 2007 that flooded our local river for the first time! I also remember sitting in a meeting room at County Hall in Nottingham one October about 8 years ago, seeing the Trent dangerously high and positively whizzing past, then the lower floors being evacuated! Crazy weather!
Gone down to about 9mm forecast now
Edited by user 15 March 2012 20:57:23(UTC) | Reason: Not specified
It doesn't looks if theirs going to be much in the way of rain this weekend apart from the showery stuff which of course is hit and miss.
Gone down again today or me, only about 4mm if I am lucky
No hosepipe ban here. Seeing as the chances of me ever wanting rain remain at a big, fat zero, I still hope any we get comes at night when I don't have to see it. Patricia, fingers crossed for you that it's cold, dark and raining where you are, all day and all night, for the next 6 months, as that seems to be your weather type
Edited by user 16 March 2012 10:31:52(UTC) | Reason: Not specified
Yep........... wouldent mind that at all but it aint gonna happen, I couldent be that lucky here
Latest BBC forecast's suggest that any rain over the drought areas will be light and I wouldn't bet against some areas seeing nothing as the rain band travels south and fizzles out
That will most likely be me then
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geoffreylean/100144383/drought-in-britain-whats-the-worst-case-scenario/
Drought in Britain: what's the worst-case scenario?
What if the drought continues? If there is yet another dry winter ahead? Of if the hosepipe bans and other conservation measures being brought in fail to quench consumption?Last time we had a drought this bad, standpipes appeared in the streets in Plymouth and parts of Yorkshire and East Anglia. Hosepipe spotter vans cruised the suburbs to sniff out guerrilla gardeners while a vigilante group of Surrey housewives (the mind boggles!) forced a local golf course to turn off its sprinklers. And the, substantial, specially-appointed drought minister (more boggling) proudly disclosed that he was taking baths with his wife.Thirty-six years on, Britain has got much better at managing water, so such severe measures are not expected to be implemented soon,. But they could, conceivably, still be on the way.The water companies observe a four-stage drought plan. In the first – which started two years ago in some parts of England, and is expected to be necessary about every five years – they start warning the country that supplies are getting low and urge people to use them sparingly. In the second – beginning six months ago and expected once a decade – the publicity is ramped up with advertising campaigns. At this stage, too, as things get worse, temporary hose pipe bans can be introduced. That is where much of the country stands now, but – unless there is an enormous amount of rain over the coming weeks – the drought is bound to intensify.So what happens next? The third stage of the plan is supposed to be implemented only once every 20 years. Hosepipe bans are likely to be extended, and new restrictions brought in. Public, or commercial swimming pools would have to be closed. Mechanical car washes would be shut down, and indeed all cleaning of vehicles, boats, railway engines and carriages and aircraft would be banned. And so would spraying water to keep down dust.The final stage, the water industry insists, would only be triggered by a more severe drought than has yet been recorded in Britain, but it is when things could start getting really nasty. Water might well have to be rationed, either by setting up standpipes, or by turning it off altogether by rota.In fact since water companies are supposed to prioritise health – and because rationing is politically explosive – they are likely to do whatever they can to try to avoid it. Reducing water pressure in their pipes is one obvious measure, as is greatly stepping up work to plug leaks. And, in practice, they are likely first to start rationing businesses, especially water-intensive ones: an example is a food processing plant in London which, says Thames Water, uses as much of the stuff as nearly 9,000 homes. The industry accepts that some factories might have to close as a result.Such extreme measures are a long way off, and may never been needed, but they remain a possibility if the drought continues to intensify. And, even if we escape this time, severe droughts are likely to reoccur. Already, south-east England gets less water per capita than Syria or the Sudan. Climate change is expected to make the area drier, yet the population is expected increasingly to concentrate there. We may have to be on standpipe standby yet.
Edited by user 16 March 2012 14:53:21(UTC) | Reason: Not specified
In the comments section there was a feel a perfect riposte to this article which said
"The worst-case scenario?
This article is a joke. Or simply has the wrong title. The worst-case scenario is that the weather-patterns of the last two years continues for another 5 and our society is totally devastated economic meltdown accompanied by mass migration or emigration.
Not predicting this, but why write an article about a "worst-case scenario" if you don't mean it?
As it happens, if it has hardly rained enough for the last two years there is no particular reason why this should change in the next two years, is there?"
2 things needed for life on earth and that is fire and water so without both we're finished no more mankind.