doom

[Christine Animal]

Pinkfluff, it's raining in the dieux saivres

     

[Lori]

Iceni - I would have called the pompiers... what a nut !  He must be insane.

[Jackie]

Hi Christine Animal,

Lucky you! Don't know whereabouts you are, but in our part of Deux Sevres we haven't seen a drop all day.  Bit of cloud coming over again now but doesn't look very promising.  As most other people we desperately need rain.

Jackie

[Christine Animal]

It was at lunchtime Jackie.  It came down quite a bit, but didn't last long.  We are in south D-S.

The ground just reminds me of Spain.

[dave and aileen]

We are in the Correze, and are amazed to see not only all the car washes operational in Brive, but people washing their cars outside their houses, gardens being watered etc. At least we save all our washing up water, and water from the bathroom, We need a few more barrels and a bit more ingenuity for the washing machine, but hopefully by next summer we`ll have that sorted as well.

Aileen

[pinkfluff<P>Big Wet Drops and Lots of Them, Are a Sure Sign of Rain!<P>]

Its comming the skys getting black    run for the hills  its going to FLOOD

[Btuckey]

I am afraid that water shortages are with us for good now and it is time to look at some of the alternatives on offer.  A few of you, that have read my scribblings on geothermal heating, will be aware that I am building a house that is as eco friendly as possible.  (i.e. as much as I can afford!)    One of the key features is the re-processing of ‘grey’ water.  This is from everything apart from the loo, albeit the jury are out on the dishwasher as I am not sure that I can get the ‘kinder’ powders in our part of France.  I will be using reed beds which, as mentioned earlier, have plants that digest the grease and crap from the water.  There are good construction hints at http://www.cresswater.co.uk/reed-about.html and http://web.onetel.net.uk/~johndecarteret/water%20treatment.htm

 

We are near to where a certain moderator describes as “Where the sun always (well nearly always) shines”.  The wind also doth (nearly always) blow, so the energy efficient light bulbs will be powered by a Wind Generator.  Should be good, as I have graduated to using Gripfill on the tiles of my existing abode on the other side of the village.

 

I suppose I should have posted this in either the Gardening or House Renovations Forums but it seemed topical for this thread.

 

Brian 11500  

 

[Deimos]

I don’t know if its where I live (or where I used to live in the UK), but I have the impression that the French water supply uses water towers far more than they are used in the UK and seems to make little use of reservoirs. I notice the reservoir thing as I have been looking for a decent sized lake/reservoir to sail on (club etc. and cannot find one).

I know nothing about water supply logistics, but I would expect a reservoir to hold a lot more water that the cumulative water towers around. Maybe there are underground reserves here ?

Ian

[Hewitts]

We are more than doomed here in Australia as far as water is concerned.

We are on servere water restrictions and my car is really dirty, just ain't the same with a bucket and sponge instead of a full on blast from the hose.

It is a very good suggestion of a previous poster to buy rain tanks now because it will only get worse as our world wide climates change. They are big and not particularly attractive but catch every rain drop and people in surburban Sydney are now installing them.

Our dams are down to less than 40%, cracks are appearing in houses as they completely dry out, our bathroom tiles are cracking as the outerwalls of the house dry out and we are now going into Spring without more than a shower or two all winter.

I don't unfortunately think it is just a bad winter with no rain, as it is about the third in a row and I worry that all around the wowrld the climates are changing. I can't remember temperature of 30C plus in England during the summer which has happenednow for a few summers in the row. So yes we are all doomed, so dash off to your local cash and carry, not that you will be able to carry a rain tank and order one to catch what rain you get in the winter ready for next summer.

[letrangere]

Perusing a friend's bookshelves last night spotted something called Gardening in Mediterranean Climate(?).  If anyone's interested, PM me and I'll get accurate details.  It was interesting because it doesn't only give tips on what to plant if you live in dry parts and advice on irrigation but it also recommends fire resistant species.  Heaven forbid anyone here would suffer from that but it is surely an important consideration in many parts of the south these days?  M

[SaligoBay]

As long as they don't recommend eucalyptus, wasn't that one of the problems in Portugal?

Life is strange, and some trees from those strange Antipodean lands depend on fire for reproduction, they need the heat to get the new seeds going.

The book would be interesting though.  Someone told me recently that they find it very very hard to grow a garden down here, not just because it's drier than where they were before, but there are so many maladies that plants go down with all the time.   I felt much better, because I've never managed to grow a single thing!  

 

 

[Iceni]

Seems the dry south and wet middle and north of Europe is due to the Jet Stream having moved (I am sure that that was the graphic they were showing). Now this has caused the havoc.

NOTHING TO DO WITH GLOBAL CHANGES - yeh right. Each year for the past few it has been a different 'never before' event that has given hot, wet, damp, grey, odd, long, short - add your own description to the season and type of weather.

Most car washing companies use grey water that they recycle by the way, those that use clean water have all been closed in our area.

In our hills a reservoir would be the size of a small well - no way to get a flat enough area to put one - they are sensible enough not to flood villages and towns AKA UK and then just use the resulting huge expanse of water for racing boats as they miscalculated and did not need the drinking water after all.

We use water from high wells and natural cisterns. There are also deep wells for animal use and luckily our kind neighbours let us lock into this when necessary.

When I grew up, we bathed once a week, had clean clothes once a week and washed those once a week - we may well be heading back to those days. They also say that industry uses 3 times more water than necessary when they produce metal and other materials. The world is changing - we are worried about Europe and Oz but there are currently droughts in Africa and people dying. This is a serious business and has been for many many many years, we are only taking notice now because it is us and not 'them' who are short of water. If the Gulf Stream continues its dive under the sea - low enough to cool the coast of Europe - we might be looking back to this summer as the 'good old days'.

I fully expect to be pumping out the sous sol this winter - if I am lucky enough to get rain, some countries have missed this years rains or had hardly any -  no need of a pump for them.

Again, I am so reassured that those that have the full knowledge of this situation and understand all the science behind it (by that I mean the leaders of all our glorious nations in all continents) that I can assure you that there is no such thing as global warming and next year will again be another strange year but of course - abnormality is now normal.

Any tree planted in the wrong place or outside its natural habitiat is asking for trouble - Japanese Hogweed, Stags Horn Sumach (which I now have a lawn of as it has killed the grass and grows even in total drought - I only cut down the main tree and I now have thousands).

[saddie]

Deimos  -- I believe French water towers are at least as much , if not more, to do with maintaining the water pressure we enjoy than acting as holding tanks. The only places you see them in England are places which have trouble with low pressure.

[SaligoBay]

they are sensible enough not to flood villages and towns AKA UK and then just use the resulting huge expanse of water for racing boats

Or even à la South de France!    This lac isn't far from us, where the only reason this village still exists is that the engineers got the calculations wrong.......

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/France/photo66971.htm

What do you call an engineer who marries a gorilla?

A social climber!   

 

[Christine Animal]

South Deux-Sèvres

I sometimes take the dogs for a walk along a track which ends in a big field with quite a large pool in it, where you can see a track in the grass where the animals come to drink from the wood next to the field.  A couple of weeks ago, the pond or pool was nearly all mud, with just a little water in the middle.  When I returned yesterday evening there was no more water at all for the wild animals... 

I am going to put some bowls outside our garden for the the birds and little animals (not forgetting to put a stone or something in so that they can climb out).

[pinkfluff<P>Big Wet Drops and Lots of Them, Are a Sure Sign of Rain!<P>]

A couple of quotes from "French News"

"In the southWest of France. agriculture uses 90 per cent of the water yet only pay for 1 per cent."

"The deux severes is the department worst hit by the current drought The authorities are seriously considering turning off the water supplies to residential premises and using standpipes instead"

How am I going to flush the toilet?

 

 

[pinkfluff<P>Big Wet Drops and Lots of Them, Are a Sure Sign of Rain!<P>]

A couple of quotes from "French News"

"In the southWest of France. agriculture uses 90 per cent of the water yet only pay for 1 per cent."

"The deux severes is the department worst hit by the current drought The authorities are seriously considering turning off the water supplies to residential premises and using standpipes instead"

How am I going to flush the toilet?