Hosepipe Bans

Here we are on the second day of the hosepipe ban in the north west. The last time this happened was in 1996. I can't remember 1996 but I can remember floods in November. I also remember yesterday when I was in Great Harwood and the gutter of Mercer Hall couldn't cope with the amount of rainfall. The roads were like rivers and this water was going straight into the drainage system.

We have plenty of rain, plenty of leaks and plenty of water, but not enough for us to use our hosepipes. It seems that we have to accept climate change, wet winters and dry summers, and we will have hosepipe bans in the future. I can agree with the view that we have had less rain than usual and our store is low. Where I disagree with United Utilities is that there is not much water in Britain. We have lakes full of it in the Lake District but we do not collect most of the rainfall. This message will not be heard. We are now going to hear about waste, including the hosepipe ban, but the use of hosepipes may be an efficient use of water rather than waste.

There will always be waste within the system. Water mains will burst. Something will always go wrong. However the waste that will hit the headlines will be about sharing baths or putting bricks in toilet cisterns. I think that there are domestic practices that could improve just as it is possible to have less leaks in the system. I'm afraid that I am going to water down the message from United Utilites. We have plenty of water. All we need is the political will to collect it if we want to limit threats of crises.

Change the world

P.S. I had written this blog and I saw a comment from a United Utilities spokesperson on the local news last night. He said that the tarns in the lake district would last a couple of days if they were plumbed into the system. Well lets use the lakes and if locals find this offensive then lets make more.