As with water being an abundant resource here in Canada, it doesn't seem to be the case across the ocean. Back in July, United Utilities, the resources utility for the United Kingdom, announced a hosepipe ban for the North-West region of England. This was preceding the announcement of the reservoir levels falling during the driest conditions since 1929 and the need to preserve "essential supplies". The North-West only had 300mm of rainfall in the past seven months (from July) and this only pushed the temporary ban into effect. The ban will affect nearly 7 million people in the region. The ban is only restricted to hosepipe and sprinkler usage. This means that people won't be able to water their lawns or wash private vehicles. However the work around to the hosepipe ban would be to use a watering can or to wash your vehicle with a bucket and soap.
In England, they haven't had such dry conditions since 1929. And the last time they've imposed a temporary ban was 14 years ago. 14 years. We think of water being an abundant resource, however at that point in time in England, water became a scarce resource for them. This could be due to global warming for all i know. The ban was designed to limit the use of water, as to predict with less usage overall, there'll be enough for emergency use, if needed. The part in preserving this water is to be assured, not the actuality of having it, that there'll be water regardless of a drought or not. It's a step but its not a step that works well.
But to even think that we'd run out of water is out of my perspective. And to limit use thru a hosepipe ban seems ridiculous to me. There really is no point in doing so because, even if its summer, limiting the use of this water is pointless, regardless they'd be saving just a fraction of their water supply as opposed to not imposing the ban at all. There are people that want to clean their cars. There are people that want to have a healthy green lawn. Forget about using the buckets, you can't even do a decent job cleaning the car with just a bucket of water. And to think that the ban will be lifted in just the next couple of weeks, people don't want dirty vehicles for the next couple of weeks. People will just ignore the hosepipe ban and for them, it'll just be a normal summers day. And that emergency water they're mentioning, there's not going to be a need for it anyhow because they'll end up having enough when they lift the ban.
I agree with what you mean, about how this hosepipe ban will not be as effective as they think. What would you think of the ban if they (UU) somehow manage to be able to enforce it more strictly?
ReplyDeleteIf they really wanted to limit the use of water surely they would have taken better measures against it, rather than simply imposing a ban and hoping that people will listen. Like you said, people want green lawns and clean cars (especially in the summer?), and a stated ban won't stop them from using water to achieve those things. It probably would have been better if they didn't place this ban in the first place, because now there's probably going to be a bunch of disputes and some illegal action going on.
I recently came across an article in The Province about the banning of water sprinkling in Abbotsford. Their situation is very similar to the UK's, as they both have very limited supplies of water in their reservoirs, and they're trying to save as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteSo, I agree with the fact that not many people would follow these restrictions of water usages. People would just start hauling out their buckets and pour as much water as possible, through the faucets, for future conservation(every man for himself). I think it would have been better if the UK had anticipated the shortage of water, and maybe send out a warning about water depletion.