Rainwater harvesting, the use of grey water in homes and an urgent campaign to reduce water usage across society are vital to prevent water shortages of 5bn litres a day by 2055, the government has been told.
I assume, at least, that “rainwater harvesting” means “build some fucking reservoirs”.
Ah, no, silly me:
Changes to building regulations to require new homes to achieve a maximum water usage of 105 litres a person a day and accelerated grey water reuse.
We must all return to stinking as the peasants we are viewed to be.
Fuck ’em.
To be fair, if you read further down the page they do say we need more reservoirs:
The government’s climate advisers warned in a major report that drought would become more frequent as a result of global heating and more reservoirs must also be built to avoid the risk of the taps running dry.
For some reason though, the Graun prefers to impose more costs on individuals than on Society as a whole….
105 litres is sod all.
I just checked my bill and if I have my sums to right, I use 128 l a day.
I am not a heavy user. I have a shower every day. Chop down trees, eat my lunch and go to the lavatoreee… ( Sorry )
According to the local water board I am a spot on average user. I recall my old mum using similar amounts.
Yeah, bollox to that.
I use about 80 litres per day, but that is likely because I’ve already had rainwater harvesting for the toilet for 30 years. But I’m considering getting rid of it because I’m no longer lithe enough to go scrambling in the roof to do the occasional maintainance.
Six litres a flush soon adds up, that is true.
I also drink gallons of tea, but I reckon I’d struggle to get below 115 l.
That’s probably why 105 was picked, a 20ish% reduction in average use. Enough to make you miserable but not enough to allow the spread of disease. And nowhere near enough to inconvenience vibrant incomers who manage to stink out a train carriage at 9am on a cool day.
I live alone in a single bed apartment, have a shower every day and use the washing machine 2 or 3 times a week. My average usage is 130 l/day which I can’t realistically reduce.
As a single person how do you generate enough laundry to do a washing mahcine load in only two days?
can’t speak for the OP but—
when I lived in a small flat 1 did one launderette-load a week, but it was one load in the biggest machine or two in smaller; and always use two driers (lees time and less money). Now I have a house and a washing machine, It is a small machine and I do 2,3 or more loads a week, and line dry.
It’s ten years or more now, but I calculate the launderette was costing about £400 a year (just feeding the machine, not soap etc). The washing machine cost £230, and is still working fine after ten years.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I use a fresh towel after every shower, and change my clothes every day too!! And frequently change my bedding. It all piles up.
At the rate we are building new homes that will make SQR(Bugger All) difference.
As I said the other day, “they” own the rain. So if “rainwater harvesting” results in reduced bills you can be assured “they” will charge you for the rain by some other means.
Now, about that carbon dioxide you’re exhaling . . .
As Jonathan points out they do make the demand for new reservoirs and nine are planned
But no mention of Net zero immigration, massive cuts in welfare, shrinking the public sectors, abolishing all laws and bureaucracy related to diversity, Big Trans and LGBT Alphabet Soup which would reduce the population to a level where this asceticism would not be necessary!
Yes V_P, reducing the population would provide lots of benefit. But somehow it’s unthinkable. Indeed we have to import thieves, murderers, rapists and poor people because we don’t have enough of our own.
Apparently, Thames Water have been trying to build a new reservoir for over 30 years. Whats stopping them? Planning.
If it’s the same as when I had TW as a customer in the 70s, it’s meetings. Never could talk to anyone. In a meeting, all day.
Just a word on reservoir planning. It’s not like building a new estate to piss off nimbies who can see it from their upstairs window. It’s throwing people out of their houses and flooding the whole area, houses, farms and all. It’s a different level of life-changing event.
According to GARD, which is a group that opposes the reservior, In the FACT SHEET at https://mail.abingdonreservoir.org.uk/downloads.html
so not much throwing people out of houses involved.
Two facts taught in elementary biology / geography:
1) the water cycle
2) >70% of the earth’s surface is covered by water
It’s impossible to use up water
True, but how much is actually usable ?
Flushing the loo with seawater might not do your pipes a lot of good ( even plastic ones ).
Also rainwater itself is quite dirty and needs processing, unless it is flushed away.
all of it is useable if you treat it. There are desalination plants for sea water.
The point still stands that you are not using up water but that there might not be enough installed water treatment capacity. But that of course has a different and less urgent narrative and would mean that you can’t blame evil white / orange men
Desalination is a good use for electricity from wind turbines. Intermittency doesn’t matter. It would make the grid easier to manage too.
That’s the thing that’s doing for my rainwater harvesting – occasionally crawling into the roof to clean out detritus and stuff, my back and knees doing like it.
If you’re keeping untreated water in a roof space you’re asking for legionnaire’s disease. It breeds in warm water & you contract it by inhaling water droplets as you use the water. If by detritus you mean vegetable matter in the water you’ve created a bacteria favourable broth. Roof spaces can get up to 50-60 degrees in the summer.
Not enough water in England?
Well that’s socialism for you. A socialist in the Sahara will run out of sand.
Run out of other peoples sand.
Someone has had too much coffee. Urgent. 2055.
The speed at which time appears to be passing right now for me, that’s the day after tomorrow (by when I shall be 127…)
The proposed new reservoir in Abingdon has been planned for 30 years and not a spade has hit the ground yet.
But a billion quid has already been spent, mostly on lawyers.
Yet once built reservoirs are very popular. Sailing, rowing, fishing, sunbathing and so on.
I think you may be conflating the three different (and independent) measures being proposed.
Rainwater harvesting is indeed “build more reservoirs”, but on a micro scale. For example, some years ago when a family member was doing a major renovation project, a water store was buried and the surface water (i.e. off the roof) diverted into it. That can then be used to water the garden, flush the toilets, wash clothes, or any other use where “fairly clean but not drinking water” is sufficient. I have it on my list of “things to do when I have the time and money” – so not until I retire.
I can remember grey water harvesting. It would have been in 1976, which many will recall was a “rather dry” year. We had a hosepipe hung out of the bathroom window, and after a bath we’d water the garden with the water – once you got the syphon going, 10-15foot head gave a decent flow rate.
Of course, both of these are great, but the obvious other action is just to use less of it – I wish someone would teach SWMBO about that ! There are practical measures which can be taken during design which will reduce consumption at minimal (or even zero) cost.
Water usage is like energy usage, there is a strong correlation between them and wealth, health and the number of people that want to move to a country. So we want more, not less, water usage
Last time I looked domestic water consumption was <5% of total consumption in UK.
This led me to conclude that all the hosepipe bans, metering etc etc was performative genuflection to Gaia.
The performative genuflexion to Gaia is the excuse. The reason is the exercise of power. Like traditional puritans, the lanyard class believe in making you more miserable so that they can feel better about themselves.
When Alan Clark used grey water in his diary it referred to diarrhoea
And a ‘Thompson’ was a normal dump.
How long till we’re reduced to drinking our own piss? Asking for a friend who seems to like that sort of thing.
Do tell me what it tastes like!! I’ve never had the guts to try it!!!
If it tastes sweet, see a doctor – you’ve got diabetes.