Drought and water table replenishment

[CommanderJameson]

So there's a drought in the rubbish parts of the country. I get that, and I think I understand why it has occurred.

What I read is that we need a properly wet winter to get things back to normal.

Now, it's been pissing down for a couple of days. If it keeps it up for a week or two, how much will it restore the balance?

Is a wet summer any help in restoring water levels?

Note: although ph is a capricious creature, and threads go where they will, but if we could, I'd like to keep the feckless incompetence of the water companies out of it, and stick to the more geographic side of things.

[Simpo Two]

I guess it's a combination of meterology, geology and population density.



Quite how you derive an answer from those is up to someone else!

[TheHeretic]

I leave my outside tap running. That should replenish it.

[Nimby]

The argument seems to be that deciduous trees soak up much of the rain once in leaf, so we just need to chop them all down. Agent Orange might also work.

[anonymous-user]

The problem is that "sudden and heavy" rainfall doesn't really replenise the ground water supplies. What happens is that it quickly compeletely saturates the top couple of inches of soil, and the rest runs off, into drainage channels, and rivers, then eventually back to the sea. The underlying ground remains dry, because it takes time for the water to soak down. The wet top couple of inches of soil then rapidly loose that water to evapouration, and we are back to dry conditions again.

What we "need" is several weeks or months of normal UK drizzle really........ ;-)

[blindswelledrat]

As a side question on this subject.
We have what we were told was a well in our garden.
It occured to me the other day that it couldn't be a well because we are on top of a hill hence there is no water table.
Is this true or not?

[CommanderJameson]

That, my dear BSR, is what we scientists call a "hole".

[TheHeretic]

You could have non-porous rock, I suppose, and water above that, maybe... Possibly.



OK, I have no idea.

[blindswelledrat]

CommanderJameson said:

That, my dear BSR, is what we scientists call a "hole".

I thought as much.
It is a structure though so it must have had a purpose. My first thought was its an old septic tank and now I suddenly know it is.

[Liszt]

blindswelledrat said:

As a side question on this subject.
We have what we were told was a well in our garden.
It occured to me the other day that it couldn't be a well because we are on top of a hill hence there is no water table.
Is this true or not?

How deep a hole and how big a hill?

[blindswelledrat]

Liszt said:

How deep a hole and how big a hill?

THe hill is vastly bigger than the hole is deep, if thats what you mean.

[MartG]

It is possible that the rock formations forming your hill include a fault which could deliver water to the top - unlikeley though

[rhinochopig]

Come on BSR it's been a while since we've had a good man in a tunnel thread. Go hunting for Nazi gold.

[blindswelledrat]

rhinochopig said:

Come on BSR it's been a while since we've had a good man in a tunnel thread. Go hunting for Nazi gold.

Ive just filled it up with builders rubble unfortunately.
I regret it, but its too late.
Either way Im almost certain it is a septic tank. We have another one for the house but then I remembered that our house used to be 2 houses years and years ago so it suddenly makes complete sense that it is

[CommanderJameson]

blindswelledrat said:

rhinochopig said:

Come on BSR it's been a while since we've had a good man in a tunnel thread. Go hunting for Nazi gold.

Ive just filled it up with builders rubble unfortunately.
I regret it, but its too late.
Either way Im almost certain it is a septic tank. We have another one for the house but then I remembered that our house used to be 2 houses years and years ago so it suddenly makes complete sense that it is

Shame

I was hoping for a thread with pictures of you excitedly exploring an underground brick box that used to be used to store other peoples' turds.

[Shaolin]

I remember once digging near the top of a hill in very wet weather, dug through some clay and water started spurting out, quite a little stream. I suspect it was due to a layer of sloping clay in the ground retaining the water, so maybe you can get a water table on a hill.

[twosocks]

If only there was some way of collecting all the runoff from urban areas, treating it with reed beds to remove contaminants and then injecting into water bearing rock (aquifers) to top up the groundwater levels! Why are the water companies not doing it in this country? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquifer_storage_and_recovery

[Cheib]

Surely the real reason for the drought is that there's been little or no investment in new reservoirs....the South East of the country has seen the mother of all building booms over the last 25 years. How many new reservoirs have been built in that time ? I've no idea but if the answer was none it wouldn't surprise me.

[Lost soul]

Cheib said:

Surely the real reason for the drought is that there's been little or no investment in new reservoirs....the South East of the country has seen the mother of all building booms over the last 25 years. How many new reservoirs have been built in that time ? I've no idea but if the answer was none it wouldn't surprise me.

Thats about the size of it

[Westy Pre-Lit]

Strange really because the last time there was a drought everything was dried up and brown.

Green green grass everywhere and not a dried up thing to see.

Drought my fking arse, incompetence, underinvestment and greed more like.....oops sorry I've gone off the OP's intended topic.