Torrential rain

Interesting that each householder must collect 80% of their 200 day rainfall

Maybe houses in the south could use rooves/roofs(?) like these:

Bermudan water collection

Beautiful spring day here, but I think I shall have to water the patio pots - without the hosepipe, of course!

Been gloomy here all day. I'm told we had some rain,I wouldn't know! Holed up in tribunal room from 9.30 til16.45.
Will be nice to see outdoors tomorrow ? Hopefully?

Yogagran when did that come in to force? Don't think there is one in kent yet?

We already have a hosepipe ban in Sussex

O.K. Jess, I hold similar views about 'privatisation' so was pleased to read your comments!

Oh right, sorry, wrong reservoirs.
We had a very dry winter in the S and E last year and a dry (albeit not very sunny) summer, plus another dry winter. We have had enough rain here to top up our local ponds but that is quite different to topping up big reservoirs and ground water sources, which are more common in S and E. Because there are no mountains. So under water aquifers quite important.
There is no where for them to get more water from. They have been toiling away for years to reduce leakage - but demand tends to keep on climbing (more washing machines, more power showers, more industry and more housing etc etc)
I think they need to be putting hosepipe bans in place right now. And warning farmers that there is not going to be enough water to irrigate crops - so be careful what they plant.

Sorry Jess ...don't understand the welsh reservoir comment?

Ardingly(Sussex) Bewl (Kent) ...Southern Water should have seen this coming and put some measures in place much sooner? Don't think a hose-pipe ban will do much good in the south?

Forward planning...increase of population density in south? may equate to increase in demand for water?

I don't think the welsh reservoirs are the problem Jacey.
It has been raining a fair bit on that side of the country.
East of England is the problem. No way of plugging counties like Linconshire and Norfolk into other water networks. Even if money no object and they started today, how long would it take to bring a massive pipe from Wales or Cumbria all that way?

There is a water transfer scheme in California. It takes water from the mountains in northern C. down the central valley towards LA. (semi deserts if left to their own devices)
It is a huge gravity fed canal.

We live in Norfolk and it is very dry. Although we had rain yesterday it was only for an hour or so and we need rain for days and days to make any difference. Today the sun is shining and the temperature is a heady 16C!!! The heating is off,, the windows are open, washing blowing on the line and I am going to eat my lunch in the conservatory!!! We have masses of crocus in flower, also pansies, grape hyacinth and the daffodils ready to burst forth!!! I dont care what it does tomorrow, today is fantastic-ENJOY!!!!!

Yes ...surely these two resevoirs don't have plugs in them that have been pulled out? Sudden disappearance of water?

Therefore action could/ought to have been taken months ago?

Not just hoping for an 'act of god'? ...as in torrential rain? Perhaps Jess was wrong in thinking bankers had 'god on their side'?

Jacey I didn't know that! And it is empty, isn't it? Ridiculous.

That is true ogm but that is why they have the regulator - to stop them just putting up bills and not doing improvements.
It has always stuck in my craw to admit it - but in the case of the water industry we would still be in the poo (literally in the case of bathing beaches and rivers) if they had not been privatised.

Jacey - I was at Ardingly reservoir earlier this week and I have never seen it so empty. Just a little pond in the middle where the reservoir should be. It's drastic.

Yes, we're fine thanks, ariadne. Rest and Be Thankful is near us but not too near! And landslides there are two a penny. What it usually means is a very long detour round lots of mountains. Comes with the territory. As does nagging the council to do something about it!

Jess, I never thought I'd say this, but it does matter to me who owns our water companies, it seems 'we' own fewer and fewer of 'our' utilities. I'm afraid that multinationals are more interested in making a profit than improving the infrastructure.

DH has just rung from the car - there's been a landslide up near the Rest and be Thankful, near you, bagitha?? (he's a Scot, and also likes to know what's going on on GN!)

Are you OK up there?

I was amazed to see a fallen tree floating northwards during one of the bad floods we seem to have when there isn't a drought.

That is an interesting logical conclusion jacey. There I was thinking that bankers had the gods on their side...
All the water companies are heavily regulated so it does not really matter who owns them.
I was not particularly in favour of privatisation on a political level. But it certainly improved our water services beyond all recognition!
They did not have it in N Ireland and still a mess of a system there. Remember all the people cut off there in big freeze a year ago? That could have been us.

Seems mine is own by a consortium of bankers ...mainly American ...no wonder the Bewl Resevoir is empty

Our Water Co is now owned by a Chinese company.

absent the engineers of the 19th century were fantastic but the construction projects were dangerous and paid the workers very little. Building the main sewers and the embankment in London too about 6 years and many men will have died in the process.
There was talk of water transfer over that 20-30 years but everyone knows you would have to do a great deal of digging across a great deal of land, owned by a great many people and put in some very big pipes. Because water company boundaries were drawn around river catchment areas there is inevitably a mountain, hill or at least a major bump between them.
I would be very surprised if the person on TV worked for Welsh Water. (if they did last week they may find that they don't any more!) This is a welsh nationalist beef that has been going on for decades now. They like nursing a grudge. Gets a few votes up there.
The water from that reservoir supplies the Dee which in turn supplies parts of NE Wales and Merseyside.
Reservoirs in the Elan Valley also flooded valleys. They are in the Severn catchment, run by Severn Trent and the water flows downhill to the West Midlands.

Much of the water supply in England is controlled by a French company, so don't annoy the French!

Annika its probably not 'Welsh' water at all!
In the Southwest we are supplied by Wessex water which is owned by the YTL Corporation. It had been bought by Azurix ( a company affiliated to Enron) in 1998. YTL is Malaysian owned!