I was surprised at how much land is owned by YW and hadn't considered at all their role in managing that land, together with tenants, and how much that can affect the quality of the water collected. We are all aware of high profile incidents where things accidentally enter the water chain but I hadn't appreciated that these aren't really 'one off' events - that so much of routine use of land can have widespread repercussions. This can range from the large scale, well intentioned schemes of drying out the peat moors post war to try to increase food production, to the very small considerations of making sure animal feeding troughs (which obviously cause animals to congregate) are not positioned too close to water drainage channels.
I hadn't considered this to be part of the 'water treatment' as much as the impressive reservoirs and dams and the amazing actual water treatment works. Seeing for myself how much goes in to providing the clean water that flows straight to my house has made me determined to see how we, as a family, can use that water more responsibly. This means trying some water saving devices which should cut our useage but also means considering how we use what we do. We currently use perfectly clean drinkable water to flush our loo and wash our car. We are trying this new energy/water efficient kettle
And we are anticipating the heat wave that is about to hit and are trying storing water in bottles in the fridge so that we don't waste water running the taps for ages waiting for it to run cold.
We also have a new hose connection and a power washer to try.
I have thought about using 'dirty' water in my garden but I'm not convinced that the cleaning chemicals and waste wouldn't be harmful to my plants so I'm going to look at butts ( always a pleasant occupation whichever way you spell it).
julie
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