Siddown, you're rocking the boat.

[mirrorshard]

Thames Water is introducing reverse osmosis desalination plants to the British water supply, because there's simply not enough drinking water for the south-east of England.

According to Thames Water, in the south and east of England there is less water per person in an average year than in Ethiopia or Sudan, although tapping that resource in Africa has always proved a problem.

Earlier this year Folkestone and Dover Water Services said it planned to apply for "water scarcity status". If granted by the government, the firm would be the first in the UK to be able to impose water meters on its customers.

At the same time, South East Water is planning to pilot a small desalination plant in Newhaven, East Sussex. Plans were reportedly brought forward after the record-breaking nine-month dry spell in 2003.

Link.

I can't help wondering how many leaks the cost of the desalination plants would plug. Come to that, how's the leak situation doing, anyway? I'll have to look into that.

Comments

[mirrorshard.livejournal.com]

http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/inlwater/iwkf13.htm

Water leakages have been increasing since 2000, although that was the lowest year since 1994. 2,628 megalitres are lost in distribution a day, more or less, compared to 995 megalitres from householders' pipes.

[vashti.livejournal.com]

London water quality has always been appalling, though. Desalinised seawater might actually be an improvement.