At stupendpous cost plus the energy cost of pumping it.
Far cheaper to build more reservoirs in the South and if, when the nimbys try to lie down in front of the bulldozers, just drive over them.
Water companies are one of the biggest power consumers in the country as it is. A water grid has never been considered feasible due to the pumping costs. I don’t think costs are dropping.
Tim
They wouldn't need to pump it because it would be going from up north to down south.
Bill
More to the point, they should have made water meters mandatory. Everywhere I've lived (except the UK), you have a water meter. Dimwits, of course, think water should be free.
My LibDem sister used to tell me how wonderful it was when water was nationalised, how the Water Rate was only £4 (a month? a year?). That such a low charge meant there was no money for maintenance didn't occur to her.
The latest missive from SE Water tells me that they are having more mains leakages at the minute because with the heat the ground is drying, shrinking, and thus moving. Presumably the same will happen when it starts to rain again. All probably due to our out-of-date infrastructure.
Anyone have any figures for how much of our water supply system relies on ancient pipework?
Yup, Kentish clay again.
Here (Herne Bay) I signed up for alerts concerning leaks. This was after our water went off unexpectedly [*] while they fixed a major one. A lot of roads are also closed/have temporary lights, so getting to Aldi is a bit of a trial! There is one leak that they've been trying to fix for a couple of weeks; it's on a major roundabout (with no easy diversion), which doesn't help.
[*] I did notice (at about 11 p.m.) flashing orange lights outside. South East Water Transit van, and a guy struggling to turn a bar inserted into a small manhole. I guess that was the water going off. He marked it with blue paint to make it easier to find (see other post by Brian). CCTV shows that he turned it on again at 2.40 a.m.But that's one of many, and clay shrinkage is obviously a major cause.
Southern Water do the sewage, and that's dumped into the sea frequently.
The biggest roadworks this year were when they closed our road (a bus route) for six weeks to fix a broken sewer that turned out to be 9 metres down! At one point it was "We're gonna need a bigger digger".
Falling costs are not the only thing that makes a project viable. Rising risks also have the same effect ...
Works for Cumbria to Manchester.
And Derwent to Leicester.
Why is HS2 going to need so many tunnels and cuttings ?.
Because high speed rail works a lot better with minimum grade changes and because you need more free space around the train in a tunnel with high speed rail.
All this was talked about during the great drought of 76. The reason nothing much was done as water is not valuable enough to spend the billions on building a massive water infrastructures to move water from there is plenty to where this a shortage. There's never going to be a payback on the massive costs.
Hose pipe ban coming into force here in Yorkshire yet just down the road from us are two reservoirs full to the brim, only problem is the lower one has blue green algae. I know that the blooms can clog up filters and of course there is the small matter of the toxins but I would have thought some solution would have been found by now to bring these reservoirs back into use.
Richard
We are pretty much immune to hosepipe bans where I am. The reservoirs intended to serve the no longer extant steelworks on Teesside will supply us with water long after London and the SE have died of thirst.
We sit on the boundary water from Northumbrian Water and sewage to Yorkshire (who *are* about to have a hosepipe ban).
Last time they really screwed it up you couldn't move for water tankers running up and down the A19 to help Sheffield and other places with incredibly leaky pipes out.
Off scale expensive - which is why with the high price of energy today they have taken the only UK plant capable of doing it offline.
The only reason for doing it is if you don't have enough natural rain and/or live on a tropical island with lots of sun and no reservoirs.
Or you are a filthy rich oil state showing off wasteful technology.
I give you:
probably full of piss.
ond nowhere near the Gorbals
and nowhere near Largs either....
I see they've started turning off the fountains in London. Looks like "drought theatre" to me, as the water of fountains is recycled [1] so the only loss is due to eveporation.
[1] Of course, originally fountains (for washing, laundry and drinking; later ornament) were natural springs. In some places they still are, like Budapest, which has continuously flowing drinking fountains and places where water just spurts out of the ground.HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.