How can Britain have a water shortage when we're an island and surrounded by the stuff?

Question

People are always going on about there is a shortage of water in britain but if you look on a map there is blue stuff all around it, it rain here 90% of the time, and if you belive in global warming in 50 years time we will have more water than we can handle, they go on about how we waste all this water but surely when it goes down the plug hole it doesn't just disappear, the water board charge us so much for it and then moan when we use it, I mean there getting it for free!!! ( excuse the spelling never was good at it)

Answer 1

water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.  

Converting sea water to drinking water requires a lot of energy, time, and money, but it is starting to become more prominent.

Answer 2

we have a water shortage because our water comes from resivours not the sea and as for global warming there is more chance of less water than more of it

Answer 3

Because it costs and takes a lot to remove salt from water. Salt clogs filtering systems with amazing speed and cost!

The best method is to let it fall from the sky with minimal salt content or filter through the ground and then purify large particles and contaminants from the water.

Answer 4

Hello,

ANS) Yes! we are an island, Yes! we are surrounded by water, Yes! at the moment our climate & country means we have high rainfall.

However, you are failing to make a clear distinction between water, seawater, polluted or low quality water (unfit for human use) and fresh clean drinking water.

**yes! as an island we in great britian are surrounded by sea but we cannot make use of the sea water unless its processed through a de-salination plant (process). Sea water is either polluted by argicultural run off from the land or dumping at sea by shipping & high salt make it unsuitable for human consumption.

**Fresh drinking water, the kind that comes through domestic taps has come from deep under ground from aquafers, has been treated & processed & highly filtered for human use. Such water takes a very long time to filter through many layers of rock before reaching the under ground aquafers. The filtration process from sky through rock to aquafer can take as long as 50 to 100 years. In other words its very slow to fill aquafers and if demand by humans out strips supply the result is a shortage.

**Thus its NOT a shortage of water but a shortage of clean high quality drinkable water thats the real issue here in my opinion.

**If you had to walk 10miles then climb down a 50 foot hole in the ground just to get some water, perhaps you'd start to think differently about the value of the water we take for granted.

IR

Answer 5

because all the water around us is pumped full of our own excrement.

Answer 6

As soon a we have a bit of sun, we have a water shortage

Thats Britain 4 ya

Answer 7

Aside from the difficulty of getting usable water from salt water, as already mentioned, Britain already has a pretty tough water situation.

Aquifers are natural underground "storehouses" of water.  Essentially they are just layers of porous rock which can hold water that has come down through the layers of soil above it.  For example, England has three major aquifer systems, and the one that is beneath the southeastern part of England is particularly stressed because of the high population density.  As long as half a century ago water use in London and the surrounding region had drained the aquifer to such low levels that a project was begun to artificially pump water back into the aquifer (as opposed to the natural rainwater recharge).

During the summer months, when water usage is highest, the recharge helps from draining the aquifer.  But to add to the problem, salt water that comes up the Thames can intrude into the aquifer, and this has to be pumped out and purified.  On top of that (despite it seeming to rain very often), official records show that the recent winters have been particularly dry, which means there is even less recharge of the aquifers, and less to go around.

On top of this add wasted water from washing cars, leaky pipes, running tap water, etc.  The situation is actually pretty dire, and unfortunately people are stubborn to change their water usage habits.  However, people understand money and will bend to its pressures, as a result charging more money for water usage has a better chance of deterring water usage.

Answer 8

the problem is money. let me define it for u.

profit-making organisations are built for making for profits!

nothing new here. so what happens is this:

Less: If we (all) use less water, the board goes into loss. So they would like to raise the water charges to make profits!!

More: If we (all) use more water, the board cannot handle the demand. So they raise the water charges!! to reduce demand. (remember the demand-supply equation).

So what we need to do?

Use as much water as you "need". Cut down on "waste". Identify what you need (including ur garden) and what is a waste (flushing 20 liters!).

As for the board, it should not be a profit-making entity but really be socialist in nature. This is precisely the example where capitalism fails. It fails to provide basic needs to all free of cost! And if you want more (greed) then u need to pay more obviously! Exactly where capitalism triumphs.!!

In short:

needs should be lowest cost (socialism)

greeds should be highest cost/highest bidder (capitalism)

In this world we need to make this balance for a heppier world (including 3rd world).

Too many exclamations? :-) I hope I provided you with a new perpective.

Answer 9

Erm, NaCl!