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Water, Water everywhere – so where does it come from ?
The water in the UK comes from the sky, both rain and snow.
The UK has no untapped ancient aquifers, so all water that’s available comes out of the ground via boreholes, rivers, lakes and man made reservoirs.
Water gets there via the hydrologic cycle, because its a cycle it doesn’t actually start or end, so let us begin with the sea.
Water evaporates from the sea into the atmosphere as water vapour.
The water vapour gets blown around in the atmosphere and cools forming clouds.
Sooner or later the water vapour precipitates as rain and snow and falls to the ground.
Some of it evaporates back into the atmosphere
The rest either becomes ground water, seeping into the ground or it can run off quickly into rivers and lakes.
All the planets water today remains unchanged for billions of years, the water in your tea and coffee has been drunk many times before !
Water abstraction
The process of taking water into potable water (drinking water) is called abstraction. Water is heavy so water companies pump it as little as possible in order to save energy.
Reservoirs that hold water to be treated are called impounding reservoirs. You may distinguish these from other reservoirs as you may see people fishing in them!
Water treatment
The hydrological cycle cleans water so it becomes fresh water, however abstracted water is far from fit to drink.
Here are just a few things in the water that need to be removed for drinking. – Viruses – Bacteria and other microorganisms – Large solids, for instance larvae, algae and slit – Dissolved substances such as iron minerals, chemicals such as fertilisers from farming.
Once reason for water treatment is to enable water to be stored for extended periods , you may have noticed that rain water goes green very quickly.
The more water we waste through inefficient use and underground water leaks in the water company pipes before the water even arrives to the customers property the more water is abstracted from our environment.
Many countries across our world including the UK are experiencing water shortages and in extreme cases severe drought, so we really must value water more and become much more water efficient.
So why not commission a water audit and see how much you can save which is good for business and our environment. A water audit report will identify specific areas of water wastage so remedial action can be taken to reduce consumption.