Hi Bruce,
Did you catch this? I don't know whether to laugh or cry or shoot myself.
Peter Miller.
http://www.perpetualocean.com/
Don't shoot yourself, Peter, we need that digital artwork
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/britain-may-tow-icebergs-to-solve-water-shortage/2006/05/17/1147545365887.html
Britain may tow icebergs to solve water shortage
May 17, 2006 - 10:58AM
Britain's biggest water supplier, Thames Water, is seriously considering towing icebergs from the Arctic to London to solve what could be the worst shortage in a century, a newspaper says.
"We have to look at any possible alternative, including towing icebergs from the Arctic and seeding rain clouds," The Times quoted Richard Aylard, of Thames Water in London. (((Anything except averting climate change by burning less carbon, that is.)))
Admitting that many people might find the idea "daft," he could not rule out using icebergs. Thames Water has not determined whether it would make most sense to bring in icebergs from Greenland or northern Scandinavia, he added. (((The rush is on to privatize the dwindling ice-fields of the North Pole, folks.))
Aylard said other plans included transporting water across the North Sea by tanker from Scandinavia.
"Tankers from Scotland and Norway are something that has been looked at. If we get into an emergency situation that's the kind of thing we would be looking at," he said. (((Better hope that Scotland and Norway are in a friendly mood during that "emergency.")))
He said that bringing water by road has been considered but all but rejected, because it would not be a feasible way to supply quickly millions of people. (((Any brief perusal of Jared Diamond's COLLAPSE will show that the time-honored solution to this engineering problem is to have the millions of people (a) die and (b) scatter. It's vastly easier to create refugees than it is to move water.)))
Thames Water, a unit of Germany's RWE group, provides sewage services to 13 million people and drinking water to eight million over a 12,950 square kilometre area in southern England, including London. ((("Welcome to Waterless London, the British New Orleans! Enjoy our Heritage Sunshine Gardens!")))
Britain this week issued its first drought order in 11 years.
Environment minister Ian Pearson gave south-east English utility company Sutton and East Surrey Water the order on Monday, effectively curbing or banning outright non-essential uses of water in the area it serves for six months.
Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman said yesterday that the onus was on privately-owned utilities to implement water-saving measures, and it had encouraged them to tackle issues like leakages.
In south-east England 13 million people are already subject to hose and sprinkler bans - some since last year - as two successive dry winters have left reservoirs and underwater aquifers sorely depleted.
(((Imagine a permanently drought-stricken London also
*under water from rising seas.* It's like two J.G. Ballard
novels for the price of one!)))
