Fifty Plus (50+) - The drought continues.

We have had a couple of years now in the South East of the UK without too much rain. This has led to low water supplies in the resoirvoirs and the underground systems and we were in danger of running out of the wet stuff. In April this year a drought order was put in place to allow more water to be drawn from rivers to replenish the resoirvoirs and a hose pipe ban put in place.

However April then turned into the wettest for years with nearly 3 times the monthly rainfall. It was rather damp and the water butts in my garden were overflowing and I had to drain water from the wife's swimming pool. May continued on in a like vain although the last couple of weeks in the month were good and sunny and temps got up in the high 70's That broke with the Jubilee celebrations and rain came down again. Pleased me in a way as 2 hours watering the garden with watering cans was getting tedious when it got to a daily basis.

Well the resoirvoirs are full- and so is my garden. Most of the jobs I have to do are outside- including riding. I haven't been out on the bike all week and I am beginning to feel it. Had to go out to the town yesterday and I walked. I don't do walking but there was no way I was riding in that weather. Along with the rain came a wind but that was the lull before the storm. There is a bit of a breeze running up the English Channel today and 40 to 50 mph winds are hitting us. Roads are not too safe as trees and branches down and still higher winds are expected. Winds will drop for the weekend only to be replaced with more rain. I know it is not as extreme as some parts of the US are getting but this is June. The sunny month where temps start rising and should be the month for all the Good rides to be done. July warms up a bit and August gets muggy with a few storms.

The drought order is still in place and I have had enough. Any more drought and I will have to buy a pair of waders. It's over the top of my boots now. So any of you coming to the UK shortly- Make certain you have a good waterproof. Looks like you are going to need it for the near future. The weather is not improving and one ride I had entered for this weekend has already been cancelled. A 50 miler with not too many hills but it is a bit exposed. Strength of that wind means that I would not have been going but I am not pre-entering any rides for the next month. The wind may drop but it has to get a lot drier before I am going to commit myself to any ride. I'll look at the forecast and wake up on the morning of the ride and then go if the conditions are right

Link to our local area is below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18363951

We are under drought conditions here in NW Florida but not to the extent we have water rationing. We get afternoon thunderstorms that can seem to be frog stranglers but the water runs off mainly and the aquifer doesn't get replenished. The yards with sprinkler systems are pretty and green but I'd hate to pay their utility bill. Those with wells are having to get them drilled deeper, at times. My "yard" is going au naturel and is turning brown mostly. The riding gets curtailed with the thunderstorms almost every afternoon. I'd ride but lightning is not my idea of a fun ride accessory. Just have to let the storms pass and ride later with the roads still slick and the humidity up around 90% Fun times in the Gulf Coast.

Bill

A little further south from Bill and it's been raining all day long for the last three days with the forecast being the same for the next three days. Apparently, there is a big, slow moving front coming across the Gulf of Mexico and Central Florida. I've been off the bike with a shoulder injury for three weeks and when I finally get to where I can start riding again, I get interference from Mother Nature. Seems like you just can't win sometimes. :(

My sister, in Ruidoso, NM, is under stage 4 (of 5) for water use and the like. They only flush every other time (or less) no outside watering, etc., etc. Ruidoso is sort of at the top of a hill, situated in the side of a volcanic mountain which goes over 12,000 feet, and has a ski resort, with a metro population of over 21,000 plus lots of visitors from El Paso. However, just 5 years ago, they had a devastating flash flood.

We are all in a drought in the west. Fires are rampant, with entire communities threatened. There is no way I would live in the Wildland-Urban interface so many folks seem to desire, where trees are interspersed with houses and fires are nearly uncontrollable. 27 houses, 4,000 acres burned about a month ago with 3 folks burned to death. They seem to have no clue as to how fast a fire can rage when blown along by 60-80 mph winds in tinder-dry country.

Here in New England the weather has been all topsy turvy. Freak snow storm at the end of Oct. which made everybody think we were in for a bad winter, but it turned into one of the warmest, driest winters on record. Then we had 90* in March, which made everybody worry it was going to be long, hot summer, but now it has turned cold and rainy, with the temp averaging 5* below normal.
At the bike shop, everybody is saying that we got more riding in during the winter months of Feb. & March than now!

Sounds like everybody just moved to the midwest.

Hopefully, Stapfam, the drought restrictions will be lifted soon for you.


I remember back in '02 or '03, I had aerated my lawn, put new seed down and some fertilizer. I have a well and pump to water(use city water for inside the house). Shortly afterward, the Governor declared a restriction on water usage, even wells, but, if you had put in a new lawn, aerated and seeded prior to the restriction(or if a new house was built before or after, you got a exception for watering). I watered and then got a notice that I was in violation of the restriction. I called waterworks and codes and told them I aerated the lawn and replanted(and was using a well). The guy from codes stated he remembered my property and he was the one who delivered the notice(but he could see I had done the lawn)--he had to deliver the notice as a neighbor had reported me, but then stated on the phone that I qualified for the exception. I kept watering and was reported 3 or 4 more times--each time calling and being told to ignore the notices as the exception was in the computer. I told the neighbors I could contact that I had an exception, but still got the notices until the restriction had been lifted and I had finished the season. Never found the person, or that person never admitted they were the source(maybe they didn't believe I had an exception).

I don't even want to ask what a "water butt" is.

I don't even want to ask what a "water butt" is.

Those limeys like to use funny expresions, I know being raised in Victoria B.C. which prides itself in being "a little bit of England", I think he means a water barrel.

OK-4 of my 12 water butts that I have spread around the garden. 8 come off the shed- Two off the Garage and two off the greenhouse. The extra in front is a new one waiting to be linked in.

254959

8 pm and wind has died down so walk round the graden to survey the damage. Bike shed OK- New fence has stood up to the high wind and I think I am the only one in the road that can say that. Plenty of branches down in the trees but nothing serious. However I have a large pot with an Acer in it. Acer Palmatum so only about 3ft tall. It must weigh 100lbs but it has been blown 4ft across a patio and then blown over. No damage except to my back lifting it back into position.

Next two days weather--Saturday- Nice bright and sunny -temp about 65 to 70F and wind strength from the south gusting to 30mph. NO RIDE
Sunday-- Wind will drop- temp about the same but more rain. How heavy I don't know and what Time- not certain yet so will see if it is possible to do a short ride. Will have to be short as Wiggins looks as though he could win a race.

Here in SW Florida like in NW FL, it's pouring and warm and humid. We were rained off on Thursday, so hoping we'll be OK for our Saturday morning 23 mile thrash, but I'm doubtful. Forecast is for thunderstorms.

Stapfam - should we cancel our annual trip scheduled for next month?

OK-4 of my 12 water butts that I have spread around the garden. 8 come off the shed- Two off the Garage and two off the greenhouse. The extra in front is a new one waiting to be linked in.

254959



I believe in the States we would call those rain barrels. I hope to add rain gutters and barrels to my house in the next year.

Here in SW Florida like in NW FL, it's pouring and warm and humid. We were rained off on Thursday, so hoping we'll be OK for our Saturday morning 23 mile thrash, but I'm doubtful. Forecast is for thunderstorms.

Stapfam - should we cancel our annual trip scheduled for next month?

The weather has to improve from what we have had for the last week. No long range forecast but You come to the Brighton area so plenty to do around there and Friston Forest has enough Forest Trails to give you enough Sheltered riding if you want to ride. Temperature is still holding up but bring waterproofs.

I cannot understand the "American" habit of no gutters and drains to take away Rain water from houses. That is not allowed over here and most properties have main drainage to take Rain water away from houses into drains. If no drainage then piped to soakaways to remove water from the gardens.

...I cannot understand the "American" habit of no gutters and drains to take away Rain water from houses. That is not allowed over here and most properties have main drainage to take Rain water away from houses into drains. If no drainage then piped to soakaways to remove water from the gardens.

Huh? Everywhere I've ever lived in the states, 99% of houses and buildings have gutters. And drains...do you mean that water is drained into sewers? I don't recall that when I lived over there, but I was a teen and didn't likely pay attention to that. Most homes, the water is drained away from the house to the lawn area.

I cannot understand the "American" habit of no gutters and drains to take away Rain water from houses. That is not allowed over here and most properties have main drainage to take Rain water away from houses into drains. If no drainage then piped to soakaways to remove water from the gardens.

I've lived in many houses. Every single one had gutters and downspouts. There is a thriving gutter and downspout business everywhere I have lived.

What we can't do in our parched state is capture the water (like in a barrel or a cistern) - at least not legally - as every bit of water is owned - through water rights laws and special water rights courts. So, the water that falls on my house is not mine.

There have been some changes in the last couple of years in this law, but not for the average regular homeowner.

Huh? Everywhere I've ever lived in the states, 99% of houses and buildings have gutters. And drains...do you mean that water is drained into sewers? I don't recall that when I lived over there, but I was a teen and didn't likely pay attention to that. Most homes, the water is drained away from the house to the lawn area.

Mikey,
I believe Doug is talking about a roof drain/downspout system tied into the storm or sanitary drain system. We do this to most commercial or industrial buildings we build, especially in the Naval Bases here. Laws control what can go into a storm drain and what must be directed into a sanitary system in the U.S. and I think in the U.K., also.

My wife captures some of our rainwater for watering her garden flowers and house plants here. We do have a gutter and downspout system but it is not tied into the storm system, we have splash blocks to prevent erosion. A "Rain Butt" as Doug says, a 55 G drum she uses but it must be emptied frequently due to local mosquito control laws for standing water. We are not on a sanitary system out here.

Bill

The weather has to improve from what we have had for the last week. No long range forecast but You come to the Brighton area so plenty to do around there and Friston Forest has enough Forest Trails to give you enough Sheltered riding if you want to ride. Temperature is still holding up but bring waterproofs.

I cannot understand the "American" habit of no gutters and drains to take away Rain water from houses. That is not allowed over here and most properties have main drainage to take Rain water away from houses into drains. If no drainage then piped to soakaways to remove water from the gardens.

We want to ride and might do a Newhaven>Dieppe> Paris tour, returning to Newhaven by train.
Are trails in Friston Forest paved?

As for gutters, the first house we had in GA had no gutters and the water just shot off the roof and made a trench in the lawn.

Since then our houses have had gutters, but with downpours like we've had in the past few days, they may as well not have been there, because most of the water shot straight over them.

Here, the rain water flows from downspouts onto the surface, down the street, into the storm drains and out into Sarasota Bay.

It's all clear now, back up into the 80s F (30C) and we did our group 23 mi ride at 17.5 mph average.

The weather has to improve from what we have had for the last week. No long range forecast but You come to the Brighton area so plenty to do around there and Friston Forest has enough Forest Trails to give you enough Sheltered riding if you want to ride. Temperature is still holding up but bring waterproofs.

I cannot understand the "American" habit of no gutters and drains to take away Rain water from houses. That is not allowed over here and most properties have main drainage to take Rain water away from houses into drains. If no drainage then piped to soakaways to remove water from the gardens.

We want to ride and might do a Newhaven>Dieppe> Paris tour, returning to Newhaven by train.
Are trails in Friston Forest paved?

As for gutters, the first house we had in GA had no gutters and the water just shot off the roof and made a trench in the lawn.

Since then our houses have had gutters, but with downpours like we've had in the past few days, they may as well not have been there, because most of the water shot straight over them.

Here, the rain water flows from downspouts onto the surface, down the street, into the storm drains and out into Sarasota Bay.

It's all clear now, back up into the 80s F (30C) and we did our group 23 mi ride at 17.5 mph average.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/187127749

"Most" houses over here are connected to sewers for Foul water and roads have their own system for drainage. Roof drainage is gutters and downpipes and fed into the Surface/road drainage. In theory there should be two separate systems but "Cowboy" builders have linked roof/surface drainage into the Foul water system and in torrential downpours- the Foul water overflows.

We pay for Foul Water and surface drainage in our water bills so The State funding is not that good. On the Water "Barrels" and mossie problem--one cap full of cooking oil on the surface of an infected barrel will kill them in 24hours. They cannot get to the surface to breath. However there are some older properties and those in remote areas that are not connected to the main drainage systems and Various tanks and systems for managing foul water and Soakaways in the garden for Rain drainage. The big thing over here right now is collecting the roof water and collecting into tanks underground in the garden. That Rain water is then used to flush the toilets- water the garden and supply water in the house where "Clean" water is not required. I was thinking about it but to recuperate the investment I would have to live for another 50 to 60 years.


And Artmo- Friston Forest is Gravel Forest roads-Or offroad- But plenty of Bike routes marked by Sustrans and although they may use roads- they are safer routes. But Brighton to Lewes- about 10 miles- can be done on paved cycle paths or designated cycle lanes on the roads. Only problem you could have is staying on the "Correct" side of the road. Newhaven Dieppe is a good crossing and I have done organised rides from Dieppe up to 100 miles and it is great.

Government officials everywhere are crying "drought" when in reality they just have not planned with enough foresight. Cities are expanding and there are more people so more reservoirs must be built, or else city limits need to be imposed. If you were a caveman with a family living next to a small stream and 2 dozen people tried to set up their camp next to your camp what would you do? You'd chase them off to find their own stream.

Government officials everywhere are crying "drought" when in reality they just have not planned with enough foresight. Cities are expanding and there are more people so more reservoirs must be built, or else city limits need to be imposed. If you were a caveman with a family living next to a small stream and 2 dozen people tried to set up their camp next to your camp what would you do? You'd chase them off to find their own stream.

Exactly the point that is being made over here. The S.E of England is "Overpopulated" and there is a shortage of housing. Put more concrete and asphalt down and rain does not reach the below ground aquifers. So build more resoirvoirs. But that is difficult- Where to put them and cost is the priority along with shareholders dividends. We still have over 100,000 new homes planned for the S.E. and water is only one problem. How about schools- medical centres- hospitals and jobs. All taking money and resources which we do not have.

Another Junuary .. might not rain, here, Tomorrow , on the coast.

[QUOTE=And Artmo- Friston Forest is Gravel Forest roads-Or offroad- But plenty of Bike routes marked by Sustrans and although they may use roads- they are safer routes. But Brighton to Lewes- about 10 miles- can be done on paved cycle paths or designated cycle lanes on the roads. Only problem you could have is staying on the "Correct" side of the road. Newhaven Dieppe is a good crossing and I have done organised rides from Dieppe up to 100 miles and it is great.[/QUOTE]

We've a done a fair amount of cycling on the "correct" side of the road, including Brighton>Lewes>Horam(and Horsham); Brighton>Seaford>Newhaven (coming back out of Newhaven is a challenge for us flatlanders) along the hilly bike lane and the A259; Brighton>Littlehampton. I have to remember to put my helmet mirror on the other side, or I get confused:)

What we can't do in our parched state is capture the water (like in a barrel or a cistern) - at least not legally - as every bit of water is owned - through water rights laws and special water rights courts. So, the water that falls on my house is not mine.

I've never heard of such a thing as this. I can see having a law against standing water, but not a law against collecting water for your lawn or garden. That just strikes me as absurd.

I've never heard of such a thing as this. I can see having a law against standing water, but not a law against collecting water for your lawn or garden. That just strikes me as absurd.

agreed

The theory being that all water drains into our creeks/rivers, for which every drop is spoken under existing water rights. Therefore, if I store water there is less going into the drainage for which someone may have gained rights historically or purchased.

Colorado water law is quite complex, given the shortage of water and burgeoning population and historic use of water for agriculture.

Our water district recently purchased water rights from some farms near Nebraska, several hundreds of miles away. Our wells may/will go dry soon. Water is now more precious than oil.

FYI - our average annual moisture is 15 inches. We are below that, and the mountains are at 2% of average snow pack.

Locally we have got away light in the rain and wind problems. Till this morning. We have a National Radio service and on the Traffic reports it will list the major problems for traffic all over the country. This morning and it is all about the area where I live. Roads closed- trees down- Banks broken and blocking roads and flooding. Have had about 3" of rain overnight and it is still coming down. Garden is not too bad but I am on a slight slope. The garden below us is flooded again. (Maybe because I have just drained 3" off the wife's pool.) And the next weeks weather does not look much better so not much riding going to be done again.

Not sure how far behind on our yearly rainfall now, we should be ahead by now. We had an official total of 15" for the weekend with some areas getting upwards of 30". All the government and school doings are normal today. Our county jail's booking area (entire 1st floor is the report so far) is flooded and temporary accommodations are in place. I'll talk to my brother today and find out how many cruisers were flooded at the garage. Several roads are still closed and the forecast is for 100% rain today. Radar shows a break for a bit, hope I can get home and ride this morning before it comes another frog strangler. The creeks are already receding but I imagine the Escambia River will flood about mid week so the north end will have some flooding then. The Perdido and the Styx Rivers are only a few miles form our home but they are usually no threat to anyone, they flow cleanly into Perdido Bay. What a weekend, Level 1 emergency status and full EOC operations. No wonder I couldn't find my brother.

Edit: see TomD77's pics below for the street situation in one intersection.

No drought problems here now, somewhere around 20 inches of rain over the weekend.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x229/TomD77/misc%20stuff/DSC9127.jpg

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x229/TomD77/misc%20stuff/DSC9203.jpg

...and people wonder why they get stuck and their cars stall. Flooded streets are often deeper than they appear.