Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink

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#1614276 19-Aug-2016 12:04

Fred99:

The UK does have a certain advantages. It does tend to rain everywhere almost all of the time, the effect of which is permanently etched on the general disposition of the population, but at least it makes keeping reservoirs full a simple task. Then there's the once a week shower/bath thing - though a great hygiene improvement since the days where they'd have the kids "sewn in" to their clothes for the winter months, that saves a hell of a lot of water vs the crazy and wasteful concept of washing once a day.

Yeah, nah. Average rainfall in the UK is 885mm and average rainfall in NZ is 600-1600mm. I can't find a figure that averages for the whole country for some reason. Anyway, NZ has at least as much and probably more rain (over 6000mm in Fiordland!) than the UK. We just seem to be happy to watch it wash down the rivers and into the sea, then wonder why we have no water in some places in the summer....

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#1614305 19-Aug-2016 12:27

Yogi02:

I have to wonder if the outbreak/contamination had something to do with all the rain the Hawkes Bay had a couple of weeks ago (5-6 Aug)? Maybe some sort of sewage back flow or over flow?

I suspect more likely the recent extended power outage due to the snow. Or maybe a combination of those events.

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#1614306 19-Aug-2016 12:31

Geektastic:

MikeB4:

Geektastic:

MikeB4: Reservoirs? Has anyone driven around NZ eyes open? Let me see now, Wellington region, Twin Lakes Temarua,Karori , Haywards,Ngauranga plus the huge underground reserves just as an example

They are all pretty small. I'm talking about things that have circumferences over 10 miles...that one you pass going over the Rimutakas is like a large pond.

We also have no method of taking water from one region where it rains a lot to others where it rains less in order to even out peaks and troughs. We need that - we ought not to be having so many drought regions annually when we have areas where it never seems to stop raining.

Let me introduce NZ, small place only 4.6 Million folks, Wellington region around 400K we don't need reservoirs 16km's. The Twin lakes hold more than enough and add to that the aquifers .

Sure. That would be why the Wairarapa has drought restrictions most summers - we do not need reservoirs...

Those restrictions are for watering gardens, cleaning cars etc etc . What you drink is not restricted. Want to do those activities put in a tank.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

frankv

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#1614309 19-Aug-2016 12:34

Geektastic:

We just seem to be happy to watch it wash down the rivers and into the sea, then wonder why we have no water in some places in the summer....

Yeah, nah. We already have the problem that there's not enough water (or perhaps too much effluent) in our rivers. Reducing flows further to enable Corporations to build dairy farms is a backward step, and leads to the situations they have in Europe.

I don't understand this mentality that says we have to turn everything in this world into a money-making exercise.

blakamin

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#1614640 19-Aug-2016 20:39

MikeB4: Reservoirs? Has anyone driven around NZ eyes open? Let me see now, Wellington region, Twin Lakes Temarua,Karori , Haywards,Ngauranga plus the huge underground reserves just as an example

Yeah, I drove all over the lower NI (from NP to Welly to Napier daily for many years). So tell me why Kapiti, as part of the Wellington Regional Council, can't get water from any of those places?? They can't even get it from Otaki!

Underground reserves aren't that huge and, in the Kapiti example, aren't that good anyway!

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#1614675 19-Aug-2016 22:32

frankv:

Geektastic:

We just seem to be happy to watch it wash down the rivers and into the sea, then wonder why we have no water in some places in the summer....

Yeah, nah. We already have the problem that there's not enough water (or perhaps too much effluent) in our rivers. Reducing flows further to enable Corporations to build dairy farms is a backward step, and leads to the situations they have in Europe.

I don't understand this mentality that says we have to turn everything in this world into a money-making exercise.

In what way is saving water when you have a lot so you can use it when you have little a 'money making exercise'?

I would have thought it sensible planning, personally.

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#1614720 20-Aug-2016 08:50

They just need to make chlorination a permanent activity. Even Samoa has chlorinated water supply. Sure a few people will moan that they don't like the taste, but they can install filters or buy bottled water.

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#1614754 20-Aug-2016 10:00

Aredwood:

They just need to make chlorination a permanent activity. Even Samoa has chlorinated water supply. Sure a few people will moan that they don't like the taste, but they can install filters or buy bottled water.

Or they could build modern water treatment facilities....

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#1614756 20-Aug-2016 10:12

Aredwood:
They just need to make chlorination a permanent activity. Even Samoa has chlorinated water supply. Sure a few people will moan that they don't like the taste, but they can install filters or buy bottled water.

I was astounded when I heard it wasn't treated.

Surely it's needed even just to kill the bugs when old Jim the plumber wipes his sweaty butt crack, then finishes the repairs he's doing.

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#1614766 20-Aug-2016 10:15

andrewNZ:
Aredwood:

They just need to make chlorination a permanent activity. Even Samoa has chlorinated water supply. Sure a few people will moan that they don't like the taste, but they can install filters or buy bottled water.

I was astounded when I heard it wasn't treated.

Surely it's needed even just to kill the bugs when old Jim the plumber wipes his sweaty butt crack, then finishes the repairs he's doing.

Thanks for the image I will never be able to get out of my mind.

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#1614791 20-Aug-2016 11:55

blakamin:

I'm amazed NZ has so much trouble with water. I lived in the Kapiti region for nearly 10 years and they had to have bores (that needed treatment, due to pipe and kettle hard-water damage), and water restrictions due to "drought".

Now I live in one of the most drought-prone areas of the world and have never had a water restriction. We even pay tens of millions a year for a desalinisation plant that isn't even used!

Maybe if NZ planned ahead a bit and built reservoirs, dams, etc and stopped taking water straight from rivers and bores at random amounts, these things wouldn't happen?

Edit: I can even water my lawn with a built in sprinkler system AND wash my car in summer... Yeah, it costs me money, but I can also drink out of the tap without being sick. :p

She'll be right.

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#1614823 20-Aug-2016 13:59

Geektastic:
Aredwood:

They just need to make chlorination a permanent activity. Even Samoa has chlorinated water supply. Sure a few people will moan that they don't like the taste, but they can install filters or buy bottled water.

Or they could build modern water treatment facilities....

We already have them

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

frankv

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#1614827 20-Aug-2016 14:21

Geektastic:

frankv:

Geektastic:

We just seem to be happy to watch it wash down the rivers and into the sea, then wonder why we have no water in some places in the summer....

Yeah, nah. We already have the problem that there's not enough water (or perhaps too much effluent) in our rivers. Reducing flows further to enable Corporations to build dairy farms is a backward step, and leads to the situations they have in Europe.

I don't understand this mentality that says we have to turn everything in this world into a money-making exercise.

In what way is saving water when you have a lot so you can use it when you have little a 'money making exercise'?

I would have thought it sensible planning, personally.

I'd misunderstood... if the water wasn't just "washing down the rivers and into the sea", I'd assumed you want to do something with it. Which means that the river's flow would be reduced, and raise the effluent:clean water ratio.

But no-one is going to store water for free... any "water saving" scheme is going to be a 'money making exercise' (e.g. the various Canterbury irrigation schemes).

frankv

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#1614829 20-Aug-2016 14:26

andrewNZ:
I was astounded when I heard it wasn't treated.

Surely it's needed even just to kill the bugs when old Jim the plumber wipes his sweaty butt crack, then finishes the repairs he's doing.

I guess the answer is that (until now perhaps?) it hasn't been needed. NZ *was* clean & the artesian water was safe to drink. Just like the mountain streams were safe to drink back in the 1970s.

And why spend money on chlorination (or modern water treatment plants) if they're not actually needed.

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#1614847 20-Aug-2016 16:11

Chlorine is dosed at a level that provides a residual, that can be used on sterilising the distribution network. It really does have a place here.

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