New reservoir ?

[Tim Marks]

Local BBC news this morning is reporting another ‘attempt’ to build a new reservoir at Abingdon (near Oxford).

To my knowledge this is the fourth time (in about 30 years) that this plan has been up for discussion. When is this country going to start taking water supply seriously ?

The last round of discussions were held around 2018. The estimated lead time to get planning consent and then build the thing was around 13 years…..I remember thinking at the time that if it got consent it would be operational by about 2033.

This time the project may be given ‘Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project’ status in an effort to speed things up.

The final plan should be submitted in 2026.

Given the financial plight of Thames Water; I wonder who is going to pay for it…..does ‘National Infrastructure’ mean that central government pays ?

The South will run out of water before it is built - what an absolute shambles.

 

[Carl Massey]

Afraid it same old same story in this country Tim. Too many people have their fingers in the pie, and screw the system to make financial gain. We don't need 20 committees to make choices etc so just build the bloody thing. In China it would be built in by end 2027!

 

[Jon Elliott]

Its lunacy. Just build the things, lots of them.

 

[Barry Peck]

They seem to have a bottomless pit of money for HS2 but nothing else !!

 

[Chris Jones]

It's far more effective to reduce the population. It's starting to look like the Trump and Putin are planning to help with that aim.

 

[Simon Archer]

Surely a better option would be building de-salination plants rather than reservoirs.

 

[Jon Frisby]

It's far more effective to reduce the population. It's starting to look like the Trump and Putin are planning to help with that aim.

We don't need more homes or water if we keep a static population. It's a shambles from top to bottom... everywhere is stretched and overwhelmed... and if they think this Alien generation is going to work hard for a living, more like cap in hand for a lifetime...

 

[Tim Marks]

Surely a better option would be building de-salination plants rather than reservoirs.

That suggestion got rejected decades ago - allegedly for environmental reasons.

 

[Julian Griffiths]

Local BBC news this morning is reporting another ‘attempt’ to build a new reservoir at Abingdon (near Oxford).

To my knowledge this is the fourth time (in about 30 years) that this plan has been up for discussion. When is this country going to start taking water supply seriously ?

The last round of discussions were held around 2018. The estimated lead time to get planning consent and then build the thing was around 13 years…..I remember thinking at the time that if it got consent it would be operational by about 2033.

This time the project may be given ‘Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project’ status in an effort to speed things up.

The final plan should be submitted in 2026.

Given the financial plight of Thames Water; I wonder who is going to pay for it…..does ‘National Infrastructure’ mean that central government pays ?

The South will run out of water before it is built - what an absolute shambles.

We're good at talking in this country....
But hopefully this will get the go ahead sooner rather than later. But building new homes is all they're concerned about I think.

 

[Ian Murfin]

Surely a better option would be building de-salination plants rather than reservoirs.

It's roughly 3.5kWh of electric per m^3 of water if you go down the desalination route. Or you dig a hole.....

 

[Simon Archer]

Or you dig a hole.....

......And hope it rains.

It's time to think outside the box. Not just for water, but for all utilities and other essentials. We keep adding houses to everywhere, but the infrastructure doesn't keep pace.

We were told we had plenty of water earlier this year, and wouldn't need to worry. Now we are struggling. There's got to be a better way.

 

[Tony Koziol]

Becton desalination plant is a great example of how such a plant should not be run.
It beggars belief that an island surrounded by water and a company can make such a balls up !

 

[Joe Winstanley]

Desalination is a non-starter, too expensive and energy inefficient.

Lots of other solutions which should be implemented include:

- lots of new reservoirs (these also provide recreational opportunities and habitats)

- sorting out the infrastructure of leaky pipes

- improving the water retention capabilities of soils through regenerative farming techniques to increase soil organic matter

- increasing water efficiency and implementing new technologies such as waterless toilets. When you take a step back and think about it, it is bloody mental that we flush away our turds with water that we have spent huge resources on purifying into a knackered sewage system...then repeat and repeat.

- and finally, us northerners can sell water to our southern friends via a network of canals whose main purpose is move water from north to south.