Will it really be 14 days until we have water?

'Water, water, everywhere, But not a drop to drink.'

That quote comes from the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge - when the Ancient Mariner is stuck in the middle
of the sea but seemed to fit with all these floods.

Our MP David Drew has rightly been calling for some answers. Here is what he said yesterday before Gordon Brown visited:
"I thank my right hon. Friend and all the other Ministers for the interest that they have taken in Gloucestershire. I pay due regard to the emergency services for the superb work that they have undertaken, and I pass on my commiserations to my colleagues in the county and all their constituents. However, can it be right that we are told that it will take 14 days to get back our main drinking supplies? There is much misinformation about who is off the mains supply and who is likely to be off. All the businesses, farms and individual households want some certainty. It cannot be the case that we must wait so long in this day and age because of the present crisis. For some time Severn Trent has needed to understand that it must act more quickly. I hope my right hon. Friend will make sure that that happens."

Gordon Brown replied: "Let me join my hon. Friend in expressing my sympathy to all the people in the Gloucester, Tewkesbury and related areas who have suffered an enormous amount of inconvenience as a result of the storms and then the floods. I also pay tribute to the emergency services—the police, the fire services, the Army and all those who have worked to try to get supplies into the areas and to make sure that the utilities are back serving the people. My hon. Friend is right that Mythe water station failed. He is right that we would like it back in use as quickly as possible. He is also right that all the civil engineering capacity that can be brought to bear is being brought to bear. The water works were polluted. There is, therefore, a danger that the water pouring out from there would contaminate local people. We have made it clear to the Severn water company that it has to provide the bowsers for the area. Nine hundred have already been provided, and 900 will be provided within the next day. Drinking water is being provided through the retail stores. I think that the company has discharged its duty in ensuring that that water is available. Obviously we want Mythe water station back as quickly as possible. I will visit the area later today, and I have invited the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr. Robertson) and Gloucestershire Members on both sides of the House to join me on that visit, when we will see at first hand how things are progressing. I think that the House owes a debt of gratitude to all the emergency services, and we will do everything we can to get supplies restored as quickly as possible."

While it does appear that our Government is starting to take the floods seriously I can't say this has been the case in the past - it has ignored advice about building on flood plains and has failed to take Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) seriously (see my extensive correspondence on this - most recent 20th June 2007) - both these measures would have gone a long way to protecting properties and water supplies - although I'm not for one moment saying there would not have still been serious problems. Even the governments' latest Code for Sustainable Buildings fails to compel builders to provide 'gray water' recycling for flushing toilets and chemical farming is subsidised when organic farming uses less water. Infact on Stroud District Council I must have raised the issue of SUDS at least 40 times in connection with planning applications.

"The Government does not want to connect the floods to global warming for fear of being exposed in the itsy-bitsy bikini of its own half-hearted policy."
Writer Will Self

It is also time to take flood defences more seriously - funding was cut last year although that has now been reversed but no increase until year 3 - a country planning to spend a minimum of £30bn on a missile system conceived as defence against the Soviet Union can afford to spend serious money against endemic flooding. This will mean some tough decisions about which areas to prioritise and how we can start to use flood plains in the ways they used to be used - to soak up excess water. Plus putting in place ways to 'bleed' rivers further up so that not all the water comes down at once.

And what about compensation for floods? Again big numbers get talked about but the reality is that compensation is unlikely to be sufficient. How much bigger will Glos tax payers Council tax bills be as a result of the floods?

And what about power? I and 599,000 others have been threatened with the loss of power if the substation floods. This is yet another case for decentralised power sources and local grids that Greens have been pushing for years. Denmark already has 50% supplied like this - sadly our government has so far not been supportive of this. I am not convinced this will make them understand? The massive power cuts a few years ago in US cities that left 50 million without power did not seem to wake them up either...

....Anyway the Government are right to look now to better coordination with the Environment Agency - but they were planning funding cuts to the EA - in fact the Tories at the last election were openly talking of cut backs to the EA. We need to remove such threats and reinvest in the EA. David Cameron didn't go that far but did say yesterday: "Looking to the future and how we minimise the risk of future flooding, at least five times in the past decade the House has been told that co-ordination between the Environment Agency and local councils needs to improve. I welcome the review that the Prime Minister has set up. Can he confirm that it will look into co-ordination to ensure that this time it really is delivered, and will he ensure that we do everything possible to protect key infrastructure in the future?"

I'm still in bed but couldn't resist a rant - flu is probably not making me so coherent - it is not really any point seeking to put blame on one body or person - basically we are not in control and nevre really have been - It was nobody's fault, and yet it was everybody's.....

The solutions - or at least part of the solutions - to these problems Greens have been talking about for years - hey and I haven't even got onto the lack of action to tackle climate change - this Government has been great on the rhetoric but completely failing when it comes to policies - emissions are up in the last 10 years yet we have to cut by 90% by 2050. Let us hope this wake up call does just that and really wakes everyone up to the realities of the future.

Anyhow all this has got my temperature up - and no shower for 14 days.....at least communities are pulling together in wonderful ways and I've had many phonecalls from people with ideas and/or offers of help - even a call from Spain wanting confirmation of news reports they were getting - hopefully pointed some in various directions - but it highlights the need for us to build stronger communities so that we can face such events in the future - do we really know who in our communities need help? And if we need help are we able to ask? And ask who? By all accounts hearing a scientist yesterday this will not be a freak event there will be many of these as climate change takes hold.

Hey and Puckshole is still closed and I have no news of when it might open - have contacted Highways but understandably they are slightly busy....