Drought Ban

I know it's nice and easy to blame the water companies for not fixing leaky pipes however the reality is a little more complex. When a leaky section gets replaced, pressure increases on other nearby sections as a result (because the leak that was letting out some pressure is now gone) and a fresh leak often occurs somewhere else. As a result, it's a tough problem to fix entirely save replacing huge amounts of pipes, and you probably don't want the bill for that.

One thing I can't understand is why water metering is not compulsory everywhere (after all, we have it for gas and electricity).

regards, Tam

Meanwhile Prescott has been busily ordering the construction of umptyillion new homes in the south east.

Prescott is of course a genius, and will be the next leader of the Labour Rarty after Brown is passed over by the back-benchers!

That was intended as a joke, but the horrible thing is that it is not impossible.

Fredrik

With respect Tam, the TV news last night had a report on this very subject, and the reporter was holding a perforated pipe saying that the old Victorian pipework was in such a bad state that, as you say, repairs are not cost effective as new leaks just spring up elsewhere. What I want to know is, if we have been paying billions of pounds in water rates, why the hell is the infrastucture still old Victorian pipework? Where has the money gone? Has it all gone into financial rewards for the fat cats? Looks like it. I think it's about time the people stopped being so damn weak and demanded action - and we should all stop paying too!!

The went to the share holdrs!

Modern Britain!... and why leaving is going to be inevitable as I observe on the Emigration Thread. The Nation voted for Thatcher, and this is the result. It also voted for Blair. Perhaps the most seemless political transition of all time...

Fredrik

quote:

Originally posted by Fredrik_Fiske:
Prescott is of course a genius, and will be the next leader of the Labour Rarty after Brown is passed over by the back-benchers!

That was intended as a joke, but the horrible thing is that it is not impossible.

Who would you rather have for PM, Fred, John Prescott......or John Reid?

Reid as you know is an ally of Blair and such is the emnity and distrust between Blair and Brown that I reckon that if Blair had his way, his chancellor would most certainly NOT succeed him as PM!

So, Prezza or The Bruiser? Dunno about you, but I think I'd rather leave the country - to somewhere that still had a half-decent water supply, obviously

Cheers,

Jon

Can't you just water the plants with Evian?

If Red Ken has his way with the London water suppliers they would have to start a major renewal of all water mains in London. This would involve digging the streets up and causing chaos and confusion to the business of London. It would make each day for years look as if there had been another terrorist bombing.

And while they are digging up the roads to replace the water mains they had better replace the sewers as well as they are often more than 100 years old as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Derek Wright:
When push comes to shove water will have to be distributed from Scotland and Wales by canals that follow a given contour round the country.

Bastards - first you steal our oil and now you want our water...

quote:

Originally posted by Derek Wright:
If Red Ken has his way with the London water suppliers they would have to start a major renewal of all water mains in London. This would involve digging the streets up and causing chaos and confusion to the business of London. It would make each day for years look as if there had been another terrorist bombing.

And while they are digging up the roads to replace the water mains they had better replace the sewers as well as they are often more than 100 years old as well.

So getting our water from standpipes on the corner of the street is preferable to interupting the traffic? Of course, nothing should ever interfere with the man and his damn car.

I would expect Ken and / or his followers to be able to manage a phased rebuilding of the water pipes and other structures used by both the City and the people living in and around the City thus saving the City form looking like a it has suffered another terror attack.

quote:

Originally posted by bob mccluckie:
Edinburgh might have enough water now, but it sure as hell will have less of it when they start pumping it south!

Cheaper to move the people up there than the water down here.

quote:

So getting our water from standpipes on the corner of the street is preferable to interupting the traffic? Of course, nothing should ever interfere with the man and his damn car.

I think the buses might be affected too. I never thought you were of the anti-car brigade. If they can find a way to solve the problem of replacing pipework without causing London to grind to a halt then so be it.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Toy:

quote:

So getting our water from standpipes on the corner of the street is preferable to interupting the traffic? Of course, nothing should ever interfere with the man and his damn car.

I think the buses might be affected too. I never thought you were of the anti-car brigade. If they can find a way to solve the problem of replacing pipework without causing London to grind to a halt then so be it.

Surely the point is that if the pipework isn't repaired or replaced soon then 1) the water shortage problems will get gradually worse as more water is lost through leakages 2) such leakages might eventually undermine the roads and c)if the sweage system collapses London would be pretty much uninhabitable anyway.

Some time-limited disruption of traffic would seem to be a not unreasonable price to pay to avoid such consequences.

We will all be in the shit when the sewage pipes crap out and starts bleeding into the cracked water mains. Have things not progressed at all since Dr John Snow published his works during the 1850s?

Rasher

"So getting our water from standpipes on the corner of the street is preferable to interupting the traffic? Roll Eyes Of course, nothing should ever interfere with the man and his damn car."

No my concern is the impact on the poor s*ds that live and work in London, not only do they have to pay extra for and suffer the inconvenience of Sports Day in 20nn or whenever the buildings get finished, but also years of living in a dusty muddy tide of chaos that will move across London replacing the old infra structure. It has to be done but I am glad I do not live in town.

It has to be done eventually, and I live in a busy city that doesn't have the luxury of a tube system, so it'll be tough for a while sure, but we have a crisis here that has to be addressed, which it isn't so far by the water companies who continue to take our money for services that increasingly they are unable to deliver. I think we've paid them more than enough to put the system right already. It can't cost more than doing constant patches throughout the whole system. It's just gross mismanagement - so no surprise there then.

There's no reason why repairing the infrastructure should create the type of chaos which has been mentioned. With the latest directional drilling equipment which is available and assuming things are well planned, it should be quite a painless exercise.

Desalination plant, Beckton. Public Inquiry and background information

quote:

The Public Inquiry begins on 23 May 2006 at 10am, and will be held at the Meridian Business Centre at City Airport (1st floor of terminal building).

What happens to water from leaking pipes?
Well now you know.

It's a good move though. It hasn't stopped raining since they instigated a hosepipe ban.

Roy. Thanks for highlighting that, but my question is if they recognise that happens to leaking pipe water, how is that any different to what happens to water from hoses/sprinklers (assuming they are used when loss through evaporation is minimal?). Other than they can use ban-breakers as social bad-boys, thus partially deflecting blame from themselves.
matt.

The water leaking from the pipes and being watered on lawns will sink into the earth probably into a different aquifier to the one that it original came from.

I don't understand this at all. Surely no water is ever "lost" from the water cycle. The molecules don't disappear.

quote:

Surely no water is ever "lost" from the water cycle.

Lost in the sense that is not getting to the consumer, or back to the reservoir either.

H