A Water Grid for England: An Alternative View of Water Resources in England

By Peter Styles

Since the reorganisation of the UK water industry in 1974, the planning of water resources has been left, largely, with the water companies. This is due to the regulatory regime which has led to a bottom-up, parochial approach. It is only relatively recently that attempts have been made to address the problem with attempts to remove barriers and accelerate cross-boundary strategic options. However, progress remains hampered by the lack of political leadership in this crucially important area whilst the South East of England is running out of water. The answer to the problem is more about politics than engineering and a clear understanding of the basics is an essential starting point.
This short book outlines an alternative top-down approach which would ensure reliable water resources for at least fifty years if not a hundred.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Dec 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9781728379432

Book preview

2023 Peter Styles. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ISBN: 978-1-7283-7944-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-7943-2 (e)

Published by AuthorHouse 12/05/2022

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Dedicated to all who take an alternative view to that held by the mainstream.

Also by Peter Styles

(sometimes writing as Stilovsky and Schrodinger and sometimes as himself)

Hoggrills End published December 2017

The Power of Numbers published January 2018

The Power of Names published May 2018

The Power of Notes published September 2018

The Power of Words (1) published December 2018

Power Quiz ’18 published January 2019

Power Quiz ’19 published March 2019

Power Quiz ’17 published July 2019

The Power of Words (2) published March 2020

The Power of Words (3) published May 2020

The Power of Dreams published July 2020

SAMS, Simplified Asset Management Systems published December 2020

Principles of Asset Management published 2021 with Wayne Earp

The Power of Water published 2022

Please be aware that the author has no connection with the American gay romance author of the same name.

[all available in paperback or Kindle on Amazon]

Contents

Foreword

Introduction and Background

Stating the Obvious

The Current Situation and Regional Proposals

The North East

The North West

The Midlands

The East

The West Country

The Thames Catchment

The South

Kent

Canals

The Rivers of Central England and Wales

Craig Goch and Dol Y Mynach

The ‘Yuck Factor’ and Recycling

Invasive Non-Native Species

Aquifers and Leakage

Agriculture and Irrigation

Asset Management

Funding

Organisation

Conclusions

Appendix 1: Regional Groups’ Terms of Reference and Extracts

Appendix 2: The River Severn

Appendix 3: A Water Grid for England

We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one

Jacques Eves Cousteau

Foreword

In the absence of a formal foreword I have reproduced some words by Dame Margaret Beckett when she introduced the recent report* on infrastructure resilience (or rather - lack of it).

"There are plenty of examples of the extremely serious impact that climate change has already had on our critical national infrastructure. And there are bound to be more in the future – almost certainly more serious still.

But the thing I find most disturbing is the lack of evidence that anyone in Government is focusing on how all the impacts can come together, creating cascading crises. There are simply no ministers with focused responsibility for making sure that our infrastructure is resilient to extreme weather and other effects of climate change.

Storm Arwen showed how quickly the effects of a power shutdown can impact on other sectors. People were left without any access to their landline phones after the storms, and unable even to call emergency services in areas with a poor mobile signal. These cascading crises are a major danger to the