Grand Union Canal - plan to carry drinking water from North to South.

[Alan de Enfield]

Act now on water or face emergency queues on the streets, UK warned | Climate crisis | The Guardian

 

Extract :

 

A conglomerate of government bodies said that major plans were being prepared to improve water storage and transfer across England and Wales. A £500million scheme called Rapid – Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development – was set up jointly in 2019 by Ofwat, the Environment Agency (EA) and the Drinking Water Inspectorate.

“We are now investigating different schemes with the aim of implementing the most promising in a couple of years,” said Paul Hickey, managing director of Rapid.

Among the projects being considered are a series of new reservoirs that could be built in different parts of the country and schemes that would allow engineers to transfer water from the north of England, where supplies are not stressed, to the south. These would involve using the River Severn and the Grand Union canal as conduits for fresh water that would alleviate situation in the south of England, which has been worst affected by the drought.

These schemes will cost billions of pounds, however, and are unlikely to be implemented in the next decade.

[Tracy D'arth]

Bit of an old chestnut this idea.

Who decided that the north was not short of water, "supplies are not stressed"?

 

The towing icebergs to Africa idea will come up again soon.

[dmr]

Build a big new North-South canal then the pigs can float down it rather than flying 😀

[MtB]

22 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Among the projects being considered are a series of new reservoirs that could be built in different parts of the country and schemes that would allow engineers to transfer water from the north of England, where supplies are not stressed, to the south. These would involve using the River Severn and the Grand Union canal

 

 

Curious plan, as neither the River Severn nor the Grand Union canal goes to the north of England.

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

13 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

Curious plan, as neither the River Severn nor the Grand Union canal goes to the north of England.

 

 

 

North of Watford Gap ?

 

Probably about as far as many Politicians knowledge of the 'North' extends.

[Tracy D'arth]

13 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

Curious plan, as neither the River Severn nor the Grand Union canal goes to the north of England.

 

 

Drain the Coventry into Braunston Marina to feed the GU?  Tim would not object, his water is precious.

[magpie patrick]

Be easier, and avoid a lot of punping, to let the northern water drain into the sea via the Humber and the Mersey, then pump it out at the Thames estuary.... 😉 

[GUMPY]

This was looked at years ago and declared not feasible with one exception and that was from the River Seven to the Thames via a pipeline. It was suggested at the time it would be cheaper to pay for the restoration of the canal along the same route and add additional back pumping. 

Although the river Seven is not in the north it does get abundant supplies if water from the Welsh mountains 

[pearley]

Water is taken from the bottom end of the Great Ouse at Denver and transferred via open waterway, tunnel and pipeline to reservoirs in Essex.

Not North - South but East - South Eastish.

[PNB116]

Earlier this year I spoke to a couple of surveyors at Cosgrove who were engaged in surveying for this plan.

[Fender151]

Not sure the peeps in this decision making process have spotted this yet, but, we are infract an Island, we are surrounded by, you're there ahead of me here,  WATER!

Surely some body, on their trip down to their PC correct holiday to tsea-side, is going have the lightbulb moment and:

Methods of seawater purification

Desalination can be achieved in a variety of ways.

Vacuum distillation, geothermal desalination, membrane processes (Reverse Osmosis) and even solar desalination are all potential methods that can be used to cleanse and treat water so that it can be drunk, used in industry or for irrigating crops in agriculture.

Water can be desalinated using this water purification process when it has been taken from the sea, or from other saltwater sources and locations.

Even on a small scale, businesses can sometimes put desalination into action on-site if they have the right equipment and processes to be able to do so.

 

Or maybe, they don't have personal investments in such stuff, in which case, it would be a nogoer.

 

 

 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

38 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

North of Watford Gap ?

 

Probably about as far as many Politicians knowledge of the 'North' extends.

1 hour ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Who decided that the north was not short of water, "supplies are not stressed"?

 

They consider the water to be tribute from the conquered territories, to be handed over on demand.

[Tracy D'arth]

I can see water tankers on HS2 being the answer to use the vanity railway as with more people working from home it will have masses of spare capacity.

[cuthound]

Time to resurrect the Grand Contour Canal proposal?

 

https://dbpedia.org/page/Grand_Contour_Canal

[magpie patrick]

31 minutes ago, PNB116 said:

Earlier this year I spoke to a couple of surveyors at Cosgrove who were engaged in surveying for this plan.

Twenty five years ago I was asked about the backwater curve on a canal for this kind of thing, but a quick analysis and a reality check shows that the backwater curve isn't the main problem, although it has to be allowed for. The problem is that the capacity is remarkably low, the Llangollen is about 6 million gallons a day and in the grand scheme of things that's not very much and yet the flow on the Llangollen canal is notable. 

 

A few years ago I was talking to a guy who managed part of the canal network in Pheonix Arizona, which provides drinking water - as the city has grown out along the canals they have tried to make them more of an amenity, but they can't be used for boating - the flow is too fast. 

I'm not saying it can't be done, but I am saying you have to look very carefully at how to do it

[system 4-50]

I hope there will be enough joined-up thinking to include a freshwater conduit in the Northern Ireland - Britain tunnel when it is built.  But it might be difficult to fit in in addition to space for HS3?

[Allan(nb Albert)]

1 hour ago, Tracy D'arth said:

I can see water tankers on HS2 being the answer to use the vanity railway as with more people working from home it will have masses of spare capacity.

 

1 hour ago, Fender151 said:

Not sure the peeps in this decision making process have spotted this yet, but, we are infract an Island, we are surrounded by, you're there ahead of me here,  WATER!

Surely some body, on their trip down to their PC correct holiday to tsea-side, is going have the lightbulb moment and:

Methods of seawater purification

Desalination can be achieved in a variety of ways.

Vacuum distillation, geothermal desalination, membrane processes (Reverse Osmosis) and even solar desalination are all potential methods that can be used to cleanse and treat water so that it can be drunk, used in industry or for irrigating crops in agriculture.

Water can be desalinated using this water purification process when it has been taken from the sea, or from other saltwater sources and locations.

Even on a small scale, businesses can sometimes put desalination into action on-site if they have the right equipment and processes to be able to do so.

 

Or maybe, they don't have personal investments in such stuff, in which case, it would be a nogoer.

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Fender151 said:

Not sure the peeps in this decision making process have spotted this yet, but, we are infract an Island, we are surrounded by, you're there ahead of me here,  WATER!

Surely some body, on their trip down to their PC correct holiday to tsea-side, is going have the lightbulb moment and:

Methods of seawater purification

Desalination can be achieved in a variety of ways.

Vacuum distillation, geothermal desalination, membrane processes (Reverse Osmosis) and even solar desalination are all potential methods that can be used to cleanse and treat water so that it can be drunk, used in industry or for irrigating crops in agriculture.

Water can be desalinated using this water purification process when it has been taken from the sea, or from other saltwater sources and locations.

Even on a small scale, businesses can sometimes put desalination into action on-site if they have the right equipment and processes to be able to do so.

 

Or maybe, they don't have personal investments in such stuff, in which case, it would be a nogoer.

 

 

 

Southern Water was given funding to investigate a desalination solution but has withdrawn part way through the process. 

 

As far as I am aware the investigation regarding using the GU to bring treated effluent from Minworth to the South East will continue to be funded. 

 

When this came up a few months back, I suggested that HS2 would provide a better alternative. They could lay pipes along it. 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Allan(nb Albert)

[StephenA]

1 hour ago, Fender151 said:

Not sure the peeps in this decision making process have spotted this yet, but, we are infract an Island, we are surrounded by, you're there ahead of me here,  WATER!

Surely some body, on their trip down to their PC correct holiday to tsea-side, is going have the lightbulb moment and:

Methods of seawater purification

Desalination can be achieved in a variety of ways.

Vacuum distillation, geothermal desalination, membrane processes (Reverse Osmosis) and even solar desalination are all potential methods that can be used to cleanse and treat water so that it can be drunk, used in industry or for irrigating crops in agriculture.

Water can be desalinated using this water purification process when it has been taken from the sea, or from other saltwater sources and locations.

Even on a small scale, businesses can sometimes put desalination into action on-site if they have the right equipment and processes to be able to do so.

 

Or maybe, they don't have personal investments in such stuff, in which case, it would be a nogoer.

 

 

 

 

They have one.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Water_Desalination_Plant

[Dave123]

If they back pumped up the Worcester and Birmingham canal then they could move water from the Severn to the Thames, as they already can back pump from Leamington (which is fed from the Birmingham level) up to Calcutt then Napton up to the Oxford summit, and from there down to the Cherwell. Shouldn't take too much engineering especially as the locks on the Worcester and Birmingham and grouped in flights. However as others said, whether the flow rates to make the supply adequate are achievable is another matter. Maybe they could shut navigation down overnight and pump at a high speed then?

Edited July 31, 2022 by Dave123

[David Mack]

4 hours ago, Fender151 said:

Not sure the peeps in this decision making process have spotted this yet, but, we are infract an Island, we are surrounded by, you're there ahead of me here,  WATER!

Surely some body, on their trip down to their PC correct holiday to tsea-side, is going have the lightbulb moment and:

Methods of seawater purification

Desalination can be achieved in a variety of ways.

Vacuum distillation, geothermal desalination, membrane processes (Reverse Osmosis) and even solar desalination are all potential methods that can be used to cleanse and treat water so that it can be drunk, used in industry or for irrigating crops in agriculture.

Water can be desalinated using this water purification process when it has been taken from the sea, or from other saltwater sources and locations.

Even on a small scale, businesses can sometimes put desalination into action on-site if they have the right equipment and processes to be able to do so.

 

Or maybe, they don't have personal investments in such stuff, in which case, it would be a nogoer.

 

 

 

Desalination is very energy intensive.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Soft southerners need to stop watering their beer down, bath less and make a shirt and underpants last a month minimum. 
 

 

5 hours ago, dmr said:

Build a big new North-South canal then the pigs can float down it rather than flying 😀

That was quite good, I thought. 
Just bump it back up for those who missed it. 👍

[dmr]

1 hour ago, Goliath said:

Soft southerners need to stop watering their beer down, bath less and make a shirt and underpants last a month minimum. 
 

 

That was quite good, I thought. 
Just bump it back up for those who missed it. 👍

 

Thank you, but never mind the watery beer, I've just drunk a pint of home made Northern elderflower champagne, legs gone, brain gone, hangover tomorrow.  Rochdale now closed, CRT have ashed up our gates so no Northern  water going down South.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

19 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

Thank you, but never mind the watery beer, I've just drunk a pint of home made Northern elderflower champagne, legs gone, brain gone, hangover tomorrow.  Rochdale now closed, CRT have ashed up our gates so no Northern  water going down South.

A pint,

like your style 

 

but only a pint 😃?

 

 

[MtB]

1 hour ago, dmr said:

 

Thank you, but never mind the watery beer, I've just drunk a pint of home made Northern elderflower champagne, legs gone, brain gone, hangover tomorrow.  Rochdale now closed, CRT have ashed up our gates so no Northern  water going down South.

 

Hopefully last year's elderflowers not this!!! 

 

 

[AndrewIC]

Do they know it’s not downhill all the way?