Cyclone Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 The very title of that article Wet weather averts drought risk in England Makes it quite clear that no drought occurred. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truman Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 Yes, especially when you consider the UK is a net importer of virtual water in the food and goods we import, most of which are coming from water stressed areas (tomatoes from Spain, strawberries from Morocco...). The overpopulation argument could be countered if the population were distributed across the UK according to rainfall for example... You could simply argue that it is rainfall in the wrong place - which of course makes perfect sense, because rainfall is highest in the uplands which are least populated because they are least appropriate for centralised populations. But yes, over consumption of water by the growing population is cause for concern. You can do the following quick sums and arrive at a very pessimistic view - but I think it would oversimplify the situation to follow this logic: INPUT Average UK annual rainfall depth is 1220 mm. UK land area is 245,000 km^2. 1.22 m * 245,000,000 m^2 = 300 million m^3 (tonnes) of rainwater deposited on the UK each year. DOMESTIC OUPUT UK population of is 62 billion (thousand million). UK per capita water domestic water consumption is 0.13 m^3 per day, which is approximately 50 m^3 per person per year. 62 billion people * 50 m^3/person/year = 3,100,000,000,000 m^3 per year domestic water use. AGRICULTURAL OUTPUT Approximate annual UK agricultural water use is 300 million m^3. OVERALL BALANCE Total rainfall - agricultural use - domestic use per year = 3,100,000,000,000 m^3 DEFICIT. That sort of logic fails to account for the reuse of water. But is does highlight the worry behind other water resources problems reported in the news. Such as the recent discovery of a groundwater resource in eastern Africa, which will now be pumped dry pretty quickly. In parts of India, groundwater provides the majority of the water supply, yet groundwater levels are dropping 3 metres per year. Water is not an infinite supply. 62 billion? Really Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abroadhead Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 62 billion? Really Oh dear! What a ridiculous error! Well spotted.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truman Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 Oh dear! What a ridiculous error! Well spotted.... I think you need to work through your maths again....aren't there a million sq metres in a sq. km? not 1000? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abroadhead Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 Oh goodness me, how embarrassing! My mind must have gone very numb! I'll redo it properly this evening Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retep Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 The very title of that article Makes it quite clear that no drought occurred. Then read beyond the title, "The risk of a serious drought in England continuing this summer has abated significantly thanks to the wet weather in April and May, according to the Environment Agency. Hosepipe bans may be lifted if the skies stay grey." You really will try and argue black is white won't you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 You're supporting my point, but apparently don't realise it. A risk of drought, categorically means that there is not currently a drought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert_Baehr Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 Google it, we've not had a drought in the UK since 1976. Perhaps not, but there have been - and are - water shortages. The water source for much of East Anglia is an aquifer. The increase in the number of people living in Norfolk and Suffolk and particularly the very considerable increase in the number of people who live in Essex has placed a great strain on the water supplies. There is enough water for people to drink (at the moment) but there are often shortages of water for irrigation purposes and farmers are often 'rationed' - or even forbidden to abstract water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 I haven't denied that there have been water shortages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 To be fair to you the article does say that there is a drought the current drought was caused by two dry winters in a row that severely depleted reserves. But I'm not convinced that it's an authoritative source on the issue as it's contradicted it's own title at that point. This is an article linked to from the met office web site. Although, across much of the world, drought can constitute one of the worst of natural disasters - posing a real and continuing threat to lives and livelihoods - there is no generally accepted definition of exactly what a drought is. This is a reflection of the multi-faceted nature of droughts and their wide range of impacts. The concept of a drought is generally well recognised by the public at large but translating this intuitive understanding into a rigorous and objective procedure for identifying droughts and monitoring changes in their severity, is far from straightforward. This results from the difficulties in quantifying a phenomenon which varies in its duration, intensity and impact both regionally and locally. Drought has been defined in various ways, often with a particular target audience in mind but, generally, it is possible to distinguish between meteorological droughts, hydrological droughts and agricultural droughts, with the causation shifting from rainfall deficiencies through runoff deficiencies to the availability of water for crops in the growing season. Furthermore, it may be argued that a drought could most usefully be characterised by its impact on the community; this introduces the need to monitor economic, social and environmental stress. Such appraisals can normally only be fully assessed after a drought has terminated. So they're saying that there is no universally accepted definition of what a drought is. Half of Britain is now in drought as the country faces its most severe water shortage since 1976, the Environment Agency warns today. More than 35 million people are now living in drought-affected areas, with water shortages today declared across the Midlands and South West. Parts of the country are already drier than they were in the summer of 1976, when Britain experienced its worst drought for more than 100 years. That's an article from just before it started raining in April. So the entire country was not suffering a drought at that point and so far this year has not. Which is not to say that parts of the country have not suffered more localised drought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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