"He said that 19th century sewers could not cope with 21st century storm
conditions.
"Once-in-30-years storm events are now happening twice in a year," he said.
"It is not just these recent storms. Most water companies have seen a
greater incidence of sewage flooding over the past five years."
Ofwat, during its last price review, rejected Severn Trent's £80m proposals
for making better use of water resources and removed £400m from its capital
investment plan for sewerage improvements and asset renewals."
Står det i nedenstående tekst. Det meteorologene ikke vil inn på og helst
vil lyve vekk, MÅ andre forholde seg til likevel, praktisk virksomhet må jo
forholde seg til den virkelige verden og ikke til den teoretisk korrekte som
passer statens og de økonomiske makthavernes ideologiske behov for
legitimering.
"30-års-stormer inntreffer nå to ganger i året".
Mens meteorologene hevder at intet signifikant har skjedd, må folk som er
avhengige av praktiske omstendigheter forholde seg til at det har det
faktisk. Ellers går de konk, ting funker ikke som de skal osv.
Spørsmålet er: hva skal vi med meteorologer som bare produserer ideologi?
Ingenting. Gi dem sparken.
Folkene på Titanics underdekk måtte forholde seg til det isfjellet som var
rett forut, uansett om dette ikke interesserte kapteinen.
Når tyve prosent av norske kjøttprøver viser spor av kjøttbeinmel er det
et faktum som ikke endres av bransjens bortforklaringer mht. årsakene.
"Man kan jage sannheten nok så grundig ut gjennom hoveddøra, før eller
siden kommer den tilbake gjennom kjøkkenvinduet" (Karl Marx).
Karsten Johansen
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,404318,00.html
Severn Trent flood warning
More investment needed to cope with climate change
Nicholas Bannister, chief business correspondent Wednesday November 29, 2000
Britain's second largest water company yesterday warned that the UK sewage
system may soon be unable to cope with wetter winters brought about by
climate change.
Severn Trent - which has more than three million customers - is to ask the
new water industry regulator, Philip Fletcher, to increase the amount that
water companies are able to invest in order to protect their sewerage
networks from flooding.
Its chairman, David Arculus, said the storms earlier this month had
reinforced concerns about climate change.
"Our work with the Meteorological Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Change
Forecasting demonstrates that wetter winters and drier summers will become
characteristic weather patterns in the first half of the century," he said.
"Regulators and governments will need to address these impacts more
pro-actively in the future than they have done to date."
For prolonged periods earlier this month several of the group's water
treatment plants and more than 50 sewage treatment works and sewerage
pumping stations had been unable to operate.
Mr Arculus criticised Sir Ian Byatt, the last Ofwat director-general, for
not taking sufficient account of the group's spending plan for 2000-05.
"We were very disappointed by Ofwat's response to our resource plans for the
period," he said. "In a similar way, the lack of funding made available for
upgrading the sewerage infrastructure was of concern."
But Severn Trent, which provides water and sewerage services in the midlands
and mid-Wales, said flooding had resulted in few disruptions to its services
to customers.
Brian Duckworth, managing director of the group's regulated water business,
Severn Trent Water, said that much of the UK's sewerage network did not have
the capacity to handle the very heavy downpours seen earlier this month.
He said that 19th century sewers could not cope with 21st century storm
conditions.
"Once-in-30-years storm events are now happening twice in a year," he said.
"It is not just these recent storms. Most water companies have seen a
greater incidence of sewage flooding over the past five years."
Ofwat, during its last price review, rejected Severn Trent's £80m proposals
for making better use of water resources and removed £400m from its capital
investment plan for sewerage improvements and asset renewals.
Mr Duckworth said the extra funding necessary to cope with the impact of
climate change could be raised either through a small increase in charges to
customers or through a reappraisal of environmental priorities.
"For example, should improving river quality have a higher priority than
preventing sewage flooding?" he said.
Robert Walker, Severn Trent's new chief executive, said that the group had
no plans to follow the example of other water companies, which are seeking
to split the management and ownership of their regulated water assets. He
believed the integrated businesses where the owners of the assets also ran
the business were the best model.
The group's first half pre-tax profits were £56.3m lower than last year's at
£112.8m - largely as a result of the 11.8% net reduction in water charges
imposed by Ofwat and increased interest charges. The interim dividend has
been maintained at 17p a share.
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/weather/Story/0,2763,403918,00.html
After the deluge, a heatwave
Jamie Wilson Tuesday November 28, 2000
After the gales that turned seaside caravans into matchwood and the
torrential rain that caused floods, Britain faces a further outbreak of
freak weather: a heatwave.
The country may have just suffered the wettest autumn since records began
almost 300 years ago, but weather forecasters were predicting that
temperatures today could reach an almost unprecedented 17C (63F) in some
parts.
The last time November 28 was that warm was in 1979, but many parts of the
country will see some rain, while the long term forecast for the rest of the
month remains unsettled.
According to the Met Office, a band of warm air from the Azores will cause
today's mini-heatwave
A forecaster predicted that the north Kent coast and parts of East Anglia
are most likely to experience the highest temperatures. Temperatures in
London, which average around 9C at this time of year, are expected to rise
to 15C. The unseasonal temperatures will bring some relief for thousands of
people still clearing up after the worst floods in living memory.
An average of 18.11 inches of rain has fallen across England and Wales this
autumn - 77% more than usual - beating the previous record of 17.94 inches
set in 1852.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jan 18 2001 - 10:59:28 MET