England, no way sorry

It is a shame though when villages are submerged to make way for a reservoir because it effectively removes a whole community, not just stone and brick.
This has been done in various places throughout the UK.
You would think it possible to choose an area to make one without ruining either communities or the look of the countryside.

May I explain? We are a generous kindly race, we will willingly share the rain with England, but not the water in our reservoirs because it’s in Welsh soil and the first line of our national anthem - Land of Our Fathers .

We supply Birmingham and Liverpool with water, what do we get in return ?

No point in sending people to live here, no room, mountains, lakes, rivers, farm land and sheep take up a lot of space .

You just shouldn’t have killed the true Prince of Wales , not nice was it.

No, but the replacement did speak Welsh as his first language, as promised?

When global warming happens we will all come and perch on the Welsh mountains........

But he wasn’t Welsh was he ? And we mustn’t forget the last attempt by the French to invade the U.K was halted by Welsh women.

English men place their wives on a pedestal, Welsh men place their wives on their flags ?

Oh, tell me about the militant Welsh women! What do I need to put into Google?

Not a Welsh Prince, but not an English one either - in Saxon terms that is........

Jemima Fawr, Eglantine ?

You would think it possible to choose an area to make one without ruining either communities or the look of the countryside.

DD1 lives in an area where a string of reservoirs were made in Victorian times to get water to Manchester. The resers do not ruin the look of the countryside in the least. Change is not automatically bad. Governments have to do what seems best for the most people even if sometimes this will mean 'ruining' a community. Some communities are passé anyway. I mean that objectively, not nastily.

You can't please all of the people all of the time and some things just need doing. Getting water to cities is one of those things.

Last time there was talk of low water supplies for the south f England, people suggested getting water there from Scotland. Geography makes that very difficult but if it was absolutely necessary I wouldn't object in principle.

There may be passé communities in Scotland but not in Wales .

The rains up there in the sky and when it comes down more of it lands in Wales than the south east of England.

Does your lower population need more baths and drink more water?

What's the problem?

The thing is * the english* parliament seems to run like a dictatorship in regard to the other 3 nations in the"union" With 85% of MP's in WM being english they have no allegiance to the people of Wales or Scotland ,makes us a sitting duck when they come up with their next way to take advantage of us ...no matter what damage they cause to the land or the people .

I have to agree with Baggs that reservoirs don’t ruin the look of the countryside and the forestry commission do their utmost to maintain the surrounding environment, but it is very sad to think of communities being displaced when whole villages are drowned in the making of them. The village of Ashopton was drowned in the construction of Ladybower, Derwent and Howden reservoirs and I remember, as a young child, walking with my father during a long droughted summer when the water was so low you could see the remains of Derwent Woodlands church. You used to be able to see the spire (and, some said, hear the bell ring !) but it was demolished in the forties for safety reasons.

Oh come on paddyann that’s rubbish.

Firstly there is no “English” parliament unlike the Scottish, Welsh and Irish !

Secondly, We in the North of England are almost forgotten until the South run out of water when they ship it down in tankers . There was talk of running a permanent pipeline at a cost of £billions .

The argument that it falls from the sky therefore it belongs to us all equally should be true but we get more than our fair share of rain here in the North yet my Northumbria water bills are far to high (metered ) and I’m almost frightened to run a bath for my grandchildren never mind water my garden.

Reservoirs do not ruin the look of a country but they do ruin beautiful green valleys, the valley where Capel Celyn once was was a beautiful valley.

What would you suggest as an alternative Annie ?

Gilly, yes rain is for all but not farms, schools, homes, chapels, churches, schools, graveyards , land , is for all. Is your home for all?

Build reservoirs in the country where they are needed gilly.

I don’t understand what you mean Annie.

In the North East we have the biggest reservoir in the U.K. ( Keilder ). When it was built it meant the loss of numerous farms and a school too . But what was the alternative ?

And who benefits from the biggest reservoir in England gilly?

What does it matter who benefits?

It wouldn't be there if the country didn't need it.

Water is big business Annie Northumbria water who owns Keilder has just been “outed “ for paying out over £108 million in dividends to its shareholders this year . The CEO Heidi Mottram received over £1 million salary alone !

This is a national scandal when waters in the NE is plentiful and yet ordinary people like me struggle to pay their huge water bills .

Nothing to do with this discussion gilly, a union has said a Welsh reservoir should supply London with water and I ask why?

Why not?

I think it is relevant Annie there is no way these massive businesses ( run for profit) give “my” NE water or “your” Welsh water for free ! It’s a commodity it will be sold not given . It’s supply and demand.

It appears that Thames Water are struggling to manage the 180 litre per day per property leakage problem they have and so unless and until they can, presumably any water shipped from anywhere would be subject to substantial wastage once it gets to where they want it! They also seem bent on going ahead with building a huge reservoir (second only in size to Keilder, apparently) near Abingdon, and the impact that will have on the surrounding landscape doesn’t bear thinking about. No valleys to flood so in effect, it will be “contained” within some sort of structure.

Dwr Cymru have spent millions improving our beaches .

If London has a demand for water then build a reservoir.

Supply and demand ? Liverpool demanded water and the people of Capel Celyn were thrown out of their homes and farms. If it was fair and the right thing to do why did Liverpool apologise forty years later?