Re: Grand Apagon - Electricity (not) in Spain

On Fri, 9 May 2025 13:24:51 +0200, "Carlos E.R."
<robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:

On 2025-05-09 12:38, Don Y wrote:

On 5/9/2025 1:21 AM, Martin Brown wrote:

On 08/05/2025 22:18, Don Y wrote:

On 5/8/2025 12:51 PM, KevinJ93 wrote:

When the coal miner's strike power usage reductions were in effect I
was working at Marconi-Elliott in Borehamwood.  We were not allowed
to have the lights or heating on but it was permitted to use test
equipment so we would huddle around our Tektronix 547 scopes to keep
warm, they used to put out a lot of heat.

>
The only "utility" that I can recall being VOLUNTARILY rationed was
water,
back east, during a period of drought.  We were "strongly discouragd"
from watering lawns, washing cars (car washes are far more efficient
at this as they recycle the water), etc.

>
We also live on the watershed for that. Just far enough north to be on
the copious Northumbrian water supply (intended for all the now
defunct steelworks) but with sewage outflow going downhill to
Yorkshire Water.

 
We always had ample water -- so it was *common* to use a hose as a broom.
Or, to water a lawn, wash a car in the driveway, etc.
 
The "drought restrictions" were a bit of a shock to people as everyone
always thought water was limitless.  Driving around town there were
many reservoirs -- some in places where only a single lane road would
separate you from the reservoir to your left vs. the one on your right.
 

It has great advantages - Yorkshire Water has many leaks and not
enough reservoirs so hose pipe bans are almost inevitable every
summer. One particularly bad year they were moving drinking water in
tankers from Northumberland Water to Yorkshire to maintain supply.
When it gets really serious they have had to resort to stand pipes in
the street.
>
Looks like this year will be a bumper year for drought orders as there
hasn't been any significant rain here for nearly a month now and we
have have broken record temperatures for May already. Reservoirs in
sensitive areas are at abnormally low levels for this time of year.

 
We've (here) been in a state of drought for ~25 years.  And, that's
with an normal annual precipitation of ~11 inches.  The shift in mindset
is astonishing -- to go from ~50 in/yr to less than a quarter of that.
And, for it to be confined to just 2.5 months out of the year...
 

Here, of course (desert southwest), peer pressure and threats of fines
tend to keep folks inline.
>
The idea of using a garden hose to "sweep" debris off your
driveway or sidewalk would be met with a gasp and a glare.

>
Fair enough. Where I live the water supply is the huge Kielder
reservoir built to service a once thriving major steel industry on
Teesside. Even if it didn't rain at all for a year we would still be
on supply.
>
Next village is on Yorkshire and often get hosepipe bans in summer.

 
We "store" water in the ground.  The hope being that we can extract
it when the time comes.
 
There have been some foreign companies exploiting our water supplies
(deep wells to farm and then export the farmed products).  I htink
there is some action being taken to confound this practice.
 

>
Yesterday I heard on the news that most cities in the USA are sinking
down, due to water extraction from wells.

Not most cities, but many. Some places that have lots of water are
sinking because pumps kick in when there's lots of rain. And because
most of the surfaces have been paved over. New Orleans is on the
Mississippi river but is sinking, because levees now keep the river
out of town and pumps export the rainwater. Usually.

(Many of the older pumping stations ran on 25 Hz power, and shut down
in a hurricane.)

The California Central Valley is sinking from groundwater extraction,
most by farms. It's crazy to grow nuts and rice and wheat, export
crops, in what is legally a desert.

It's getting harder and harder to sink a well deep enough to hit
actual water.