[bko]

This is all just so exhausting. Why can't we ask why we just treat this as an engineering issue. If there is some issue with public water supplies, how can the government build infrastructure to mitigate those issues? You see the same thing with energy generation, as though energy is some God given finite resource that we have to cherish and allocate carefully. Rather they should treat it like any other good, allow prices to encourage additional supply and build around actual needs rather than judging whats a valid use of the resource

[pjc50]

> Why can't we ask why we just treat this as an engineering issue.

Neither the public, nor the politicians, nor the newspapers to whom they are accountable, understand engineering.

> If there is some issue with public water supplies, how can the government build infrastructure to mitigate those issues?

The "public" water supplies have been privatized, and the government doesn't want to spend any money.

The privatization may eventually solve itself with the bankruptcy of Thames water, but the problem of money remains.

[tim333]

It is a bit of an engineering issue of the financial kind. The Thatcher govt in its wisdom privatised the water companies and then the finance wizards figured they could borrow lots of money as utilities and then instead of wasting it on water engineering they could pay it to out to shareholders and bump the stock price. And here we are.

[agentultra]

I'm not an expert but it sounds like fresh water reserves across the planet are shrinking. It is a finite resource [0].

[0] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adx0298

[bko]

Can't you invest in technologies like desalination? For instance, over 3/4 of Israel’s drinking water comes from desalination plants, mostly from the Mediterranean Sea.

Deleting emails to save water usage is not the answer

[agentultra]

Huge amounts of energy are required and it creates a lot of pollution as I understand.

The world's just going to get thirsty.

[tim333]

In the UK a lot of the stuff falls as rain. You just need reservoirs for when there's a bit of gap during the British summer which runs from July to August roughly.

[JonChesterfield]

I believe the problem is the pipes are centuries old and leak lots but replacing pipes is a nuisance. Lots of hills here so reservoirs aren't too hard to find.

[bee_rider]

It would be an interesting idea, to try to use the market to regulate energy use. As long as we correctly price in the cost of environmental cleanup related to the various technologies, it might be worth a shot.