Notwithstanding the fact that it rained heavily all weekend in London and much of the south of England, parts of the South are close to being declared drought affected. There does to be an obvious solution (pun intended) and that is to transfer water from the wet regions of the UK, mainly Scotland and Wales. Some years ago I remember this being discussed and a Scot saying that it was their water and why should they send it to the South of England. It's a fair pint, just is the point that 'it's our money why should we send it north to support you?'.
At the turn of the century a pipeline system was built to bring water from Wales to Birmingham, over a hundred years later could not a pipeline be built to bring water to London and Kent. Would it be too expensive? Five years ago, following a very dry summer, the Institute of Civil Engineers reported that a system of transferring water £330 million at a cost of £2.48 per megalitre. This would be cheaper than building a reservoir in the South East.
So whilst the rain falls in the north and the South and East suffer from fear of drought, guess where the largest population increases in the UK are happening? There is an easy and relatively cheap solution to droughts in the south of England but maybe the government (of all types) actually likes droughts as it means they can take more control of our lives.
So my message is build a proper water transfer system and build it soon or we in the South and East may decide that we don't want to transfer our money north!
At the turn of the century a pipeline system was built to bring water from Wales to Birmingham, over a hundred years later could not a pipeline be built to bring water to London and Kent. Would it be too expensive? Five years ago, following a very dry summer, the Institute of Civil Engineers reported that a system of transferring water £330 million at a cost of £2.48 per megalitre. This would be cheaper than building a reservoir in the South East.
So whilst the rain falls in the north and the South and East suffer from fear of drought, guess where the largest population increases in the UK are happening? There is an easy and relatively cheap solution to droughts in the south of England but maybe the government (of all types) actually likes droughts as it means they can take more control of our lives.
So my message is build a proper water transfer system and build it soon or we in the South and East may decide that we don't want to transfer our money north!
Its been suggested before but surely now is the time to seriously consider using canals as the 'transport medium'?
ReplyDeleteThe nation is criss-crossed with this existing resource, it surely can't cost a fortune to utilise further and I can't think of a single NIMBY-based argument that stands up, other than the usual anti-technology whiners.