‘Filthy water cannot be washed.’ WEST AFRICAN PROVERB

Filthy water cannot be washed. This has reigned true for so long. The people of Africa still use this proverb today. They walk many miles a day to collect water for their families, the sadder part is, is that this water is not even clean and it could be killing children.
This is not (intended to be) an earnest piece asking you to think about what you have and to feel bad about it. Nor is it a heart-felt plea for you to send money to African water charities, it is mainly to highlight the huge divide between us, here in England and those suffering in Africa.
I was watching BBC news today and it was harping on about a new salt water desalination plant in London to clean up water from the Thames and the ocean that feeds it. It can basically turn salt water into drinking water by using a modification of the age-old filtering system. It pushes the water through many holes, about a nanometer (One billionth of a meter) in diameter. These smalls are too small for salt molecules to pass through and you end up with nearly pure water that is suitable for drinking. The plant will be run by using renewable biofuels such as cooking oil and waste fat to reduce CO2 omissions. All pretty good to be honest. But I have a better idea.

Instead of building the plant in London at a cost of 270million (To put that in perspective that is over 3 Cristiano Ronaldos and a Berbatov) why not build it in Africa near a place without nearly as much clean water as it needs. Hell, why not build 10 of them over there?

In 2008/9, household consumption in London amounts to 1,217 million litres per day or 71% of total consumption. A further 492 million litres per day (29%) is non-household consumption (commercial and industrial water use). However, consumption itself amounts to about 74% of the total ‘demand’, with 26% leakage.

This is shameful, 140 Million litres of water this water plant in London will pump out a day, and here is an idea… Why not fix the leaks with some duct tape? This will save at least 400 million litres of water PER DAY and we can spend the saved money by building the plant where it is needed. I really cannot get over this plant. It promotes wastage of our most vital resource. It was Benjamin Franklin that said ‘When the well is dry, we will know the worth of water’. Let me clear this up. I am not saying that we wasting water will not directly affect people dying of thirst in Africa. It is not like we can ship our wastage over there. What I am saying is that using the money we can save by not building this unnecessary plant and just fixing the leaks we could do a great thing and build the plant where it is needed. We will not be out of pocket and we will be saving lives.

I have a final point to make. In the UK, the average water usage is a whopping 161 litres per person per day. Contrast this to the USA’s usage of 550 litres per person per day (source linked here, go on, click on it, I am not making this up) and you may think we are pretty good at this water conservation lark. However, cantrast this with Haiti (20 Litres per person per day) or Mozambique (5 litres per person per day) and we have a problem.

Martin Baggs (Chief executive of Thames water) said
"That's why we're tapping into the new and limitless resource of the tidal Thames, fed by the rolling oceans beyond, so we can ensure our 8.5 million customers have enough water in future in the event of a drought."

Your 8.5 Million customers can do without hosepipes, Your 8.5 million customers can do without a bath every-night and make do with a shower. Your 8.5 Million customers could click here and buy a water flush saver. (A little water bag you put in the water tank of your toilet. It saves three litres of water per flush. It is a start, but every little helps.)

Again, I am not saying that the water you save will help thirsty people in the third world directly. But it could take away Mr. Baggs crutch when he says things like- ‘Our existing resources - from non-tidal rivers and groundwater - simply aren't enough to match predicted demand in London.’ Let us make them enough.