Water again.

The reservoirs near us 13.12.22

I saw this Casdon which was a report 3 weeks ago:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-63396596

Ours are filling up very rapidly - this is last moth, since when it’s hardly stopped raining.

I hadn't heard anything on TV news, M0nica

Will take a look at the links, thank you for them.

Callistemon I am surprised you haven't heard about aquifers and ground water discussed recently. They are discussed - as the links above indicate.

This gives the latest reservoir levels for where we live, still nowhere near 100%.
www.southernwater.co.uk/

After the 1976 drought there was a lot of discussion about aquifers being depleted.

I haven't heard aquifers mentioned at all recently.

Ah, one of my favourite places, Greyduster.

They were awfully low in the dry summer, I think a visit is in order to check the levels.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202211/medium-26361-758ca7d6-1b23-47b6-9670-6a9935e1b0be.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202211/medium-632141-591d3e0b-55bd-45bb-bfcd-422d57618450.jpeg

This was Ladybower in the Peak District in November 2018 after one of the driest summers on record. The tree line on the left is where I would normally fish from when the res is full. Adjacent Derwent and Howden were similarly depleted. The following April, it miraculously looked like picture 2! It’s total capacity is 6,300,000,000 gallons. Takes a lot to fill it!

Sorry MOnia too have posted a repeat, I am too slow.

People are saying they don’t need to be careful with water because where they are, it’s raining, the reservoir it full etc.. It isn’t a case of rationing water but more that water treatment costs energy, unless you have your own supply, taking care is for the common good for everyone.
Surely, if everyone were on mètres, the water companies would have to sort themselves out, as the difference between what is being pumped out and that being metered would be blatant.

Maddyone, the reservoirs may be full, but the ground water resources aren't. Here is a useful link, with maps, issued by Thames Water in September which explains where our water comes from and the situation in the Thames Water region www.thameswater.co.uk/about-us/performance/reservoir-levels-and-rainfall-figures

Britain gets about a third of its water from ground water resources, but in areas like that of Southern Water, more than 70% of their water comes from underground, not reservoirs. A more detailed descroption of our water resources is given at nrfa.ceh.ac.uk/content/uk-groundwater-level-data On the first page of this link on the right hand side, you will see a lanel headed NEWS. Click on the first item on the panel 'Hydrological Summary for October 2022, published yesterday. Page down it and you will see a map that shows that most rivers in this country still have below average flows.

I saw a news report that the reservoirs are almost full again, and that was before the deluge we’ve been having these last few days. Of course it’s correct that the leaks need to be repaired, but there is plenty of water and no need to ration it.

Mokryna
I lived on a boat for 20 years. So every drop of water had to be replaced by us with a hose. I’ve never stopped collecting cold run off 😄
Fortunately our toilet was a sea toilet 😄

It might be raining at the moment maddyone, but that doesn’t alter the fact that reservoirs are still extremely low after the prolonged drought, and unless they fill up a heck of a lot this winter, there will be more shortages next summer.

That’s why 2 new reservoirs are being planned in Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire to try and meet the ever growing demand for water, a very precious commodity.

(I am not making excuses for water companies and mending leaks, but we still all need to do what we can).

I understand Greyduster. We don’t have a water meter and to be honest we don’t really want one. It’s bad enough having to be careful with energy without having to watch every drop of water we use. And really I don’t see the need to ration water (apart from the occasional long periods we have without rain such as this summer) because in this country after a rain free period, without exception, we get loads of rain, such as we are doing now. When it’s thundering down all day long outside, I can’t see a need to ration water use.

My water is metered, Maddyone. Having a water meter has saved us a considerable amount of money since we moved into this house compared with our last one where we didn’t have a meter and were paying over the odds in a smaller house. There’s a bit of a counter intuitive thing going on with me at the moment. I save the run off in the house so that clean water I have paid for won’t just go down the drain, but after a heavy rainfall, have to go out and lower the level in the water butt by emptying all that free water onto the garden so that it doesn’t overflow!!

HousePlantQueen

When I take over running this country after my carefully orchestrated coup, the water companies will be first in line for nationalisation. The amount of water wasted through unrepaired leaks is massive compared to the amounts I can save by using their stating the bleeding obvious handy tips. Coincidentally, we have just received our 6 monthly statement from Anglian Water. We pay £16 per month ( metered), have a credit of £45 so obviously our new DD will be £27 per month. No, I couldn't work it out either.

We were the same with United Utilities. We had quite a big credit balance from the previous year, and yet the DD was still increased, and without a significant increase in usage or a big price rise, we will be again. When I rang them, they couldn’t explain properly either so have now returned the DD to the original level. There was talk earlier in the year of how the energy companies were hiking customer direct debits to increase their cash flow, and this smacks of the same thing.

Wyllow3

I've no room in my kitchen for a dishwasher, never had one, but what are the relative water usage amounts for washing by hand as opposed to dishwasher? Obviously I save electricity but never worked out hand washing plates water wise.

What I'd really like to see are simple pipe diversions so in dry weather run off clean enough water could go to a water butt for the garden.

We invested in a four place setting dishwasher a couple of years ago. It’s on every other day or so, when it gets full and on the eco setting I don’t think it uses as much water as hand washing and rinsing a sink full of dishes. We’ve also adjusted the screw that attaches the float to the fill valve in the cistern to reduce the amount of water in the toilet bowl, invested in tap aerators and installed a water saving shower head. We’ve definitely notices a saving on the water metering.

Why are people trying to save water? The country’s being flooded at the moment. Too much water not too little. Is it because you’re on a water meter? We don’t have a water meter.

Some years ago there was a leaking drain outside my block of flats and I reported it to South West Water. Despite repeated calls from other residents there was quite a deep pool. Finally after 5 days I contacted the local paper and they sent a reporter who took photos of several of us including an elderly standing with her stick in the pool. S W Water fixed it the day after the article appeared in the paper.

When I take over running this country after my carefully orchestrated coup, the water companies will be first in line for nationalisation. The amount of water wasted through unrepaired leaks is massive compared to the amounts I can save by using their stating the bleeding obvious handy tips. Coincidentally, we have just received our 6 monthly statement from Anglian Water. We pay £16 per month ( metered), have a credit of £45 so obviously our new DD will be £27 per month. No, I couldn't work it out either.

NotAGran55

According to Which? dishwashers are more water efficient than hand washing.

www.which.co.uk/news/article/which-research-reveals-how-little-water-dishwashers-use-compared-to-hand-washing-aUDng9Y2iK8E

Surely this depends on how you hand wash your dishes. A bowl for the soap wash and another bowl for the rinse. Not the running tap which seems to be the fashion with some.

During the summer, when we were not allowed to water the garden, I collected the ‘cold’ water in a bowl that usually ran down the drain, before the warm water came through for my shower. This saved water was used for the potted plants on my balcony.
Today I felt guilty as I watched the clean water run straight down the drain. I suppose I should have collected it for a loo flush, for conservation of the planet.
Do you still collect or have you got out of the habit?

Severn Trent have been assiduous with their water saving messages here too. The year that our massive upland reservoir system was down to all but a teaspoonful, I don’t remember them doing that at all. We didn’t even have drought measures other than a hosepipe ban. We haven’t had drought measures at all this year, but the water levels have been very low again. Since I had my combi boiler fitted I’ve been horrified by the amount of water I have to run off before I get anything like hot. With the last system it was almost instantaneous and so hot it needed cold water adding. I save the run off water when I can and use it to flush the downstairs toilet when I am on my own. I only use my dishwasher when I cook lunch for the family; otherwise it would take weeks to fill it. I spend only a few minutes in the shower, and there’s not a lot of laundry to do these days. As someone said upthread, leaks are the biggest problem. My niece had one in the road outside her house. They came and dug a large hole then went away and left it. It quickly filled with water which then overflowed and ran down the road. It was four days before they came back to finish the work.