27th July 2007, 05:04 PM
So m300572 if we all stand outside with a bucket (or something larger like an oil drum, maybe?) we'll help prevent flooding? Nothing wrong with using grey water but I've never seen this argument used in its favour. I thought it was all about conserving treated water for drinking and food use and thus reducing demand at treatment plants by not using a costly (and often limited) resource to wash our cars or water our lawns etc. Brilliant.
The main thing with flooding like the recent stuff is slowing the rate at which water runs off its catchments into the drainage system - every house having a catchwater system wouldn't be enough to prevent flooding but if it held back a few million gallons it would be another part of an overall strategy (as outlined in terms of upland peat regeneration etc). Stanfing outside with the bucket (or indeed oildrum) would have a fairly minor impact on the scale of the floods that we have seeen this time though.
The main thing with flooding like the recent stuff is slowing the rate at which water runs off its catchments into the drainage system - every house having a catchwater system wouldn't be enough to prevent flooding but if it held back a few million gallons it would be another part of an overall strategy (as outlined in terms of upland peat regeneration etc). Stanfing outside with the bucket (or indeed oildrum) would have a fairly minor impact on the scale of the floods that we have seeen this time though.