Visual proof of how over populated the UK is

[Cyclone]

What was it we were actually talking about when I found the 1976 reference, was it the countrywide use of standpipes due to a drought?

I think it probably was.

[Obelix]

You're supporting my point, but apparently don't realise it.

 

A risk of drought, categorically means that there is not currently a drought.

 

I read that as a risk that the serious drought will continue, meaning a drought was already in place. Certainly the EA had declared that a large swathe of the SE was to be considered in drought, although the definition of drought in terms of hydrology is always a bit vague....

 

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/news/138490.aspx

[Rupert_Baehr]

The water shortage in East Anglia is an ongoing problem and there is little doubt that it's caused by too many people using too much water.

 

The problem is exacerbated (particularly in the Northern part of East Anglia, where much of the water enters the aquifer), by house building. Roofs do not absorb very much water; if water flows off a roof it tends to flow over the ground (rather than seep into it slowly.)

 

When Prescott announced the plans for a new town North of Norwich, people said: "But what are the people who live there going to do for water?"

 

I suppose they'll find out soon enough.

 

(One suggestion was: "Stop sending water to Essex, let them use their own.")

[abroadhead]

Also brings me back to my earlier post of Water supply is an indicator of overpopulation, and the need to move it around shows there's little enough to supply the present population.

 

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 sums - I think it would oversimplify the situation to follow this logic [and I messed up the basic sums spectacularly the first time hence the repost!] :

 

WATER AVAILABLE (INPUT)

 

Average UK annual rainfall depth is 1220 mm = 1.22 m

 

UK land area is 245,000 km^2 = 245 billion (thousand million) m^2

 

1.22 m * 245 billion m^2 = 300 billion m^3 (tonnes) of rainwater deposited on the UK each year.

 

DOMESTIC OUTPUT

 

UK population is 62 million.

 

UK per capita water domestic water consumption is 130 litres/day, which is 0.13 m^3 per day, which is approximately 50 m^3 per person per year.

 

UK total domestic water use is approximately 3,100 million m^3 per year.

 

AGRICULTURAL OUTPUT

 

Approximate annual UK agricultural water use is 300 million m^3.

 

OVERALL BALANCE

 

Total rainfall - agricultural use - domestic use per year = 296,600,000,000 m^3

 

That oversimplifies the hydrology but shows how there is no water shortage in the UK in absolute terms. The recent drought is difficult to define in terms that relate to water users, as it is a partially economic drought. See here for a good discussion of this drought of comprehension by the authorities. Whether or not you consider it a drought depends on the definition, explained here by the Met Office.

 

It certainly has little to do with overpopulation. However, that does not dismiss the effects that population increases and over consumption have localised water resources, leading to regional or local scarcity and unsustainable use of water. Take for example the recent discovery of a groundwater resource in eastern Africa, which will now be pumped dry pretty quickly. That is unsustainable because it is ancient groundwater that cannot be replenished in our lifetimes. 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, but treat any assertion that overpopulation is the cause of the recent UK droughts with caution.

[Obelix]

Those figures look better

 

I think that overpopulatio is an issue though, or rather a lack of capacity for storing water in relation to population. We cannot store all the water that falls obviously so we store some in aquifiers, others in reserviors etc. What we are doing however is increasing the population and not making allowances in terms of water storage, especially in the south east. It's very difficult to increase an aquifier in size, and there are limits to the reservoirs you can place in none hilly terrain.

[Rupert_Baehr]

There may not be a shortage in absolute terms, but roofs don't absorb much water and most of the water which falls on roofs and other 'hard' surfaces (paving and roads) runs off very quickly into streams and rivers which simply can't cope with the flow.

 

The data you linked to suggest that the average rainfall in the UK hasn't changed much during the past 15 years, but the incidence of flooding has increased considerably.

[MrSmith]

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 sums - I think it would oversimplify the situation to follow this logic [and I messed up the basic sums spectacularly the first time hence the repost!] :

 

WATER AVAILABLE (INPUT)

 

Average UK annual rainfall depth is 1220 mm = 1.22 m

 

UK land area is 245,000 km^2 = 245 billion (thousand million) m^2

 

1.22 m * 245 billion m^2 = 300 billion m^3 (tonnes) of rainwater deposited on the UK each year.

 

DOMESTIC OUTPUT

 

UK population is 62 million.

 

UK per capita water domestic water consumption is 130 litres/day, which is 0.13 m^3 per day, which is approximately 50 m^3 per person per year.

 

UK total domestic water use is approximately 3,100 million m^3 per year.

AGRICULTURAL OUTPUT

 

Approximate annual UK agricultural water use is 300 million m^3.

 

OVERALL BALANCE

 

Total rainfall - agricultural use - domestic use per year = 296,600,000,000 m^3

 

That oversimplifies the hydrology but shows how there is no water shortage in the UK in absolute terms. The recent drought is difficult to define in terms that relate to water users, as it is a partially economic drought. See here for a good discussion of this drought of comprehension by the authorities. Whether or not you consider it a drought depends on the definition, explained here by the Met Office.

 

It certainly has little to do with overpopulation. However, that does not dismiss the effects that population increases and over consumption have localised water resources, leading to regional or local scarcity and unsustainable use of water. Take for example the recent discovery of a groundwater resource in eastern Africa, which will now be pumped dry pretty quickly. That is unsustainable because it is ancient groundwater that cannot be replenished in our lifetimes. 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, but treat any assertion that overpopulation is the cause of the recent UK droughts with caution.

 

Isn’t the amount of water we use for agricultural use and domestic use in addition to the rain water we use?

The majority of the water used to grow crops falls as rain, the 300 million m^3 is used in addition to that rain water, so what percentage of the water used to crow crops does the 300 million m^3 represent.

How much water does the UK need to sustain its rivers, woodlands, moorlands, grasslands, parks, gardens, I suspect the figures you have quoted represent only tiny percentage of the water we actual need.

[KARATE DAVE]

is this a thread about over population or a thread how much bull poo can come from a know-it-all? after reading the posts very carefully, its clear that certain posters know more about water than they do about keeping threads marginally on topic. if I were an expert on water and drought and tax evasion, im thinking I would be on tommorows world with magnus pyke. sadly, im no expert on any of these things, and whilst its amusing to read the garbage that emits from the experts of everything, its saddens me to see others posters views being flushed down the toilet, as if they are incapable of making a relevent point. honour is a fine tool, and to dampen your brothers thoughts and observations shows only a deep weakness within. if the basic principal of being a good sport or to encourage equality and not stand for bullying is applied by the people who input to this, then maybe this forum would be a much more honourable place. I have seen posters accused of being keyboard warriors, and im now finding this to be more accurate each day. if the moderators of sheffield forum read this, which im sure they will, I apologise for making such a sweeping statement, but it would be pleasant if one or two of the more arrogant members could be brought in line from time to time, and let the good people have a pleasant and enjoyable experience, without the input of arrogant and weak individuals who seem to take pleasure in attempting to rebuke the thoughts and feelings of the commonality.

[abroadhead]

There may not be a shortage in absolute terms, but roofs don't absorb much water and most of the water which falls on roofs and other 'hard' surfaces (paving and roads) runs off very quickly into streams and rivers which simply can't cope with the flow.

 

The data you linked to suggest that the average rainfall in the UK hasn't changed much during the past 15 years, but the incidence of flooding has increased considerably.

 

This is exactly right. Climate change has become an easy scapegoat for the cause of flooding, when in reality it is the loss of the absorbing and attenuating effects of wetlands and woodlands and moorlands, the increase in urbanisation, but also the intensification of big business agriculture with associated topsoil losses (60 tonnes per hectare per year in typically degraded land) - all exacerbated by a complex and relatively stagnant policy framework that does not encourage sustainable flood risk and water management - rather promotes the aged heavy civil engineering projects that afford no additional benefits.

 

The thing is, and something that is taking decades to communicate to the policy makers, is that flood=drought. They are the flipside of the same coin, both symptoms of poor water and land management.

 

If anyone is interested in this, please do read this excellent presentation that explains the issues of flood=drought.

 

There is also another presentation that outlines work done by a community led approach to solve this (not in Sheffield, but in Gloucestershire, by the not-for-profit that originated SUDS in the early 1990s).

[abroadhead]

Isn’t the amount of water we use for agricultural use and domestic use in addition to the rain water we use?

The majority of the water used to grow crops falls as rain, the 300 million m^3 is used in addition to that rain water, so what percentage of the water used to crow crops does the 300 million m^3 represent.

How much water does the UK need to sustain its rivers, woodlands, moorlands, grasslands, parks, gardens, I suspect the figures you have quoted represent only tiny percentage of the water we actual need.

 

True, it certainly wasn't an exhaustive water budget! If you make the simple assumption that the total amount of water evapourating from the sea, falling on the land, then flowing back out to sea remains fairly constant, then it just about works. There are additional stores of water also in the UK - such as groundwater, that are replenished on much longer timescales, and we use this extensively from drinking water or irrigation boreholes.

 

The total water usage is also simplistic too - the domestic use for washing, cleaning, cooking and drinking doesn't include all the leakage from pipes. The agricultural water use ought to be in addition to industrial water use as well. You are right that the rainfall ought to be included in the agricultural water use, and I'm not sure if that figure is in addition to or inclusive of rainfall inputs. But also most of the rainfall is evapourated quickly and falls again nearby - so there is plenty of double-accounting and errors on both sides of the equation.

 

I think what it does show is that the approximate ball-park proportions of the volume of water we use domestically pales is far exceeded by the volume of rainfall we get each year, which goes to sustain rivers and groundwater levels (if we manage it carefully and don't ruin the environment's natural ability to do this itself, which is what other posts have mentioned).

 

Thus drought in the UK is everything to do with local water management, and therefore something that could and should be tackled, rather than allowing policy makers to fob it off as some impossible-to-deal-with issue.