wrote in message
ups.com...
ben wrote:

The real point is, this country is not short of water, it does have a
grossly inefficient distribution system were water can't easily be
moved around the country and were distribution pipes sometimes
resemble colanders...

quite. If an international pipeline one day enables our excess to flow
to countries lacking water, at a price, this may change. But for now
we've got more than we could use sensibly.

Moving water from one area to another has problems of scale. A soft water
area may find 1000s of systems will have scale problems, causing corrosion,
because of poor quality imported water. In some soft water areas many
heating installers don't pour in inhibitor, against what the makers say, and
never have problems of corrosion at all for 25 years or so.




In the UK we also have supply pipes that are far too small. It is still
common to supply 1/2" 20mm plastic, to new homes. Madness. The larger the
distribution pipes the greater the underground water storage. The UK only
has half a clue and viewed as incompetent which it comes to water and
plumbing. Quite rightly so too.

Not to mention the old Victorian sewers that are still in use and need
widening/replacing as they are incapable of dispersing rainwater in
heavy
floods.

True in some cases, but not across the board. There are plenty of
Victorian systems that cope quite happily with the heaviest of weather.