It is certainly dry in the SE, though not unprecedentedly so in
my records. My 12-month running total is 560 mm (annual mean 820) .
It has been lower than this 3 times before in the last 23 years, in
May 1997 (525 mm), July 1992 (540 mm) and September 1989 (555 mm).

But since the outlook does not look hopeful for precipitation, the
record 525mm could easily fall within a month or so, surely?

Adrian

--
Adrian Shaw ais@
Adran Cyfrifiadureg, Prifysgol Cymru, aber.
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Cymru ac.
http://users.aber.ac.uk/ais uk

Will,

Here in the far SW resevoir levels were lower last year.

Stithians is currently 80.3% full compared with 64.3% last year. Drift (near
Penzance) is full.

Also my 12 month running total is not particularly low. Currently (Feb
2005 - Jan 2006 ) 1026mm, not that far from normal, and much higher than the
751mm in 12 months ending July 1992.

A bitingly cold max of 6.8 today. (I await replies from northerners who
accuse me of being soft because they were brought up in a cardboard box on
the side of the A1 in temperatures approaching absolute zero after walking
home 298 miles after a 39 hour shift ...... But they were happy!)

Graham

Penzance Weather www.easterling.freeserve.co.uk/weather.html
Holiday Cottage www.easterling.freeserve.co.uk

"Will Hand" wrote in message
...

================================================== ==================
This posting expresses the personal view and opinions of the author.
Something which everyone on this planet should be able to do.
================================================== ==================

All I can see in the outlook this morning is dry weather. Endless dry
weather
over most of the UK. Turning colder with time too.

Dust bowls in the SE this summer anyone?
I fear a very dry Spring is on the cards and then we are into peak
evaporation
season with potential water supply problems.

:-(

Will.
--

" Ah yet another day to enjoy "
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On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 16:12:37 -0000, Will Hand wrote:

so perhaps a water meter would not bother us too much and if it helps
people in less fortunate areas then I'll be all for it, so good idea
Dave and Tudor.

But you using less water won't help those in the SE. There is no means of
getting the water you don't use to them. There is no "water grid", your
spare water will just run over the full reservoirs spill ways, down the
rivers, and into the sea...

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

"Graham Easterling" wrote in message
...


A bitingly cold max of 6.8 today. (I await replies from northerners who
accuse me of being soft because they were brought up in a cardboard box on
the side of the A1 in temperatures approaching absolute zero after walking
home 298 miles after a 39 hour shift ...... But they were happy!)


A bitingly cold, erm, 5.6C here today. Clear skies and glorious sunshime
all day. A bit breezy at times though, probably making it 'feel' like about
2C at times

This entire 'cold spell' has been pathetic. The cold spell during the 2nd
half of November was colder, and this is supposed to be the coldest time
of the year!

Roll on spring!

Col
--
Bolton, Lancashire.
160m asl.

Well, we had our coldest weather last winter, last March, so there's still
time.

Shaun Pudwell.

"Col" wrote in message
...

"Graham Easterling" wrote in
message
...


A bitingly cold max of 6.8 today. (I await replies from northerners who
accuse me of being soft because they were brought up in a cardboard box
on
the side of the A1 in temperatures approaching absolute zero after
walking
home 298 miles after a 39 hour shift ...... But they were happy!)


A bitingly cold, erm, 5.6C here today. Clear skies and glorious sunshime
all day. A bit breezy at times though, probably making it 'feel' like
about
2C at times

This entire 'cold spell' has been pathetic. The cold spell during the 2nd
half of November was colder, and this is supposed to be the coldest time
of the year!

Roll on spring!

Col
--
Bolton, Lancashire.
160m asl.

Dave.C wrote:
It's time for compulsory universal water metering and those who want to lay
water out to dry on their gardens or on golf courses should pay handsomely
and be prohibited from doing so any way in times of drought. This kind of
usage is hardly one of life's essentials.
Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, NE Surrey 556 ft.

I've virtually halved my Water and Sewerage charges since I've been metered.
That's with 3 adults (counting my daughter!) in the house. I favour a two
tiered metered charge. One rate slightly lower than current on the average
volume used by a family of 4, plus 25% allowance on top then a secondary
rate for volumes above this with a 100% surcharge. This will mainly hit
people with swmming pools, endlessly use of sprinklers, pressure washers
etc. With the former the elderly will never have to worry about how much
they are using and will save a lot of money, as will almost everybody. Also,
I have found by being metered people are much more sensible and don't tend
to just chuck this valuable resource down the drain.

Dave

Good ideas, Dave. It's the solution I would favour, but there
is a surprising amount of resistance to it, from conversations I have
had. It's a combination of feelings that we would pay more (not true)
and that water ought to be free since it falls out of the sky (or at
least used to). But that's nonsense because it has to be stored,
treated and pumped and the infrastructure maintained.
A national water grid would be ideal, but would cost a lot and
would need energy to shift large amounts of water around the country.
I'm not enough of a hydraulic engineer to say exactly how much. It all
depends on pipe diameter, roughness, slope (if any) and flow rate.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.

On 29 Jan 2006 06:39:03 -0800, Tudor Hughes wrote:

A national water grid would be ideal, but would cost a lot and would
need energy to shift large amounts of water around the country. I'm not
enough of a hydraulic engineer to say exactly how much. It all depends
on pipe diameter, roughness, slope (if any) and flow rate.

Ah but you don't ship potable water about the country. You "simply" use
the canals and rivers.

Just think there are two big (24"?) pipes from Welsh Wales to Birmingham
and the Grand Union from Birmingham to London. The flow from Wales to
Birmingham is gravity. I expect that there is at least one lift required
on the Grand Union but generally I think it's down hill from Birmingham
to London (ISTR that Brum is at 300' ish, London is sealevel).
You get the idea...

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Many places in the Alps are similarly well down on rain (snowfall) -
many resorts in the west and south are a metre down on average snowfall
so far this winter - the only saving grace is that it has been
sufficiently cold enough for snowmaking since November. Conversely
resorts in Austria and the east are having their best season for
snowfall in years

On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 15:45:25 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:


Just think there are two big (24"?) pipes from Welsh Wales to Birmingham
and the Grand Union from Birmingham to London. The flow from Wales to
Birmingham is gravity. I expect that there is at least one lift required
on the Grand Union but generally I think it's down hill from Birmingham
to London (ISTR that Brum is at 300' ish, London is sealevel).
You get the idea...

There are essentially two long level pounds on the canals up at Brum -
the Wolverhampton and the Birmingham.Highest point is up at Titford
Pools Between Brum and London, the Grand Union drops significantly to
Leamington, then rises gradually to Braunston/Daventry. drops down to
Bucks before climbing gracefully and gradually up to Tring Summit (the
Chilterns I believe) before dropping down to London. The quite heavy
lockage has resulted in a back pumping scheme around Stockton Brook
IIRC
I probably can get the exact rise and fall if anyone is interested. I
will be using the GU to bring a boat down to London this April. The
canal shares a river for a short distance just below Batchworth but I
have forgotten the name. The river powers across the cut at right
angles, which seems to terrify boaters who have not seen this sort of
thing before.
For many years there has been talk of a transfer of water from the
Severn to the Thames which I would have thought was a more
straightforward plan. I cannot work out why this did not actually
happen as the idea got into A level text books some 10 years ago.

I heard on the radio yesterday that the Medway was being used shortly
to fill an important reservoir in the SE. Not sure where but the chap
speaking said that it would fill at the rate of 1% per day. I gather
this is a reflection of the dry situation but whether it has happened
before I do not know. Any ideas?
Robin

Robin Nicholson wrote:

I heard on the radio yesterday that the Medway was being used shortly
to fill an important reservoir in the SE. Not sure where but the chap
speaking said that it would fill at the rate of 1% per day. I gather
this is a reflection of the dry situation but whether it has happened
before I do not know. Any ideas?

It's Bewl Water, just outside Lamberhurst in Kent - it's 55% below
normal. See the press release at

http://www.southernwater.co.uk/resources/news/default.asp?aID=1319

As regards moving water around. Last year a pipeline was completed
joining Bewl to Darwell (another local reservoir) which is itself being
connected to a local pumping station that extracts water from
undergound. So, on a local level at least, some attempt is being made
to move water around.

--
Ian

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