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Comment by rvba | Hacker News Reader

Why there isnt some "not sexy" statup that provides technology to build artificial lakes / water reservoirs? Just patch them in random places to collect water, plant some trees and it should help. Make it in a way that it just requires a small plot of land, so a group of people can acquire the plot, or even better - force the muncipiality to provide one.

I am nit sure if such small reservoirs can help much, but it is always something.

Last statup I heard was some company that put rubber balls on big water reservoirs in California (?) to try to limit evaporation. I wonder if this helped and if the decaying plastic didnt polute the water.

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> Why there isnt some "not sexy" statup that provides technology to build artificial lakes / water reservoirs?

The technology already exists. Bulldozer, excavator, concrete, explosives. Not not-sexy enough for you?

> Just patch them in random places to collect water,

Not sure what "patch" means here, but water is becoming increasingly regulated, and in a lot of places you can't just randomly build lakes and dam water even on property you own.

> plant some trees and it should help. Make it in a way that it just requires a small plot of land, so a group of people can acquire the plot, or even better - force the muncipiality to provide one.

Should help with what? I feel I'm missing the context you're replying to.

THIS. And it's regulated (though often under-regulated) for damn good reasons. Properly designing even a "little" dam is far more difficult that most people appreciate. And both construction and upkeep (which is necessary, forever) are really expensive. Maybe start reading here: https://practical.engineering/blog/2021/10/14/what-really-ha...

“Shade balls”, there are 96M of them in (on?) a big Los Angeles reservoir : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shade_balls

They are made from HDPE, with an additive to prevent UV-accelerated breakdown into bromates (which is what they are there to stop forming in the water, as well as to stop evaporation).

Help with what? This data is from the UK. They traditionally have to deal mostly with too much rain as far as I know.

You'd think so, but parts of England institute a "hosepipe ban" in dryer summers to reduce water usage - effectively saying "you can't water your garden or clean your car for 1 month" or something. I imagine they're just being overly cautious though because, as you said, it does rain pretty frequently in the UK overall.

It's cheaper for water companies to institute bans than to fix leaks and build capacity. Why waste potential profit! So what if lawns die, farms/gardens lose produce, it's not like the water companies need to care -- what you going to do harvest your own (you're not allowed!).

Same with sewage, they don't bother building the capacity, just pay off the Tories and they allow it to be pumped raw into rivers and onto shores.

> what you going to do harvest your own (you're not allowed!).

It's absolutely legal to harvest rainwater in the UK for private use. Some councils even encourage it!

Source: https://www.anchorpumps.com/blog/rules-harvesting-rainwater/....

Some bounds on this

1) yes you can have a small 100l tank catching rain water for your garden, but you can not drink it. If it became a big tank it would become subject to planning and building control. 2) you need a permit to harvest ground water by digging a well or borehole. 3) you need a permit to entrap water in a pond and to build a dam for this purpose

The issue here is not really 'droughts' it's that the UK relies on constant rainfall and hasn't much storage infrastructure or, say, mountains producing melt water in summer.

The UK is quite wet and becoming wetter so I think it will be down to adapting to more rain but perhaps less constant.

The water distribution infrastructure is also notorious for being outdated and full of leaks...

Yes… But think about, say, farming. Too much rain (or not enough) at the wrong time of year can devastate crops. Seeing variations on rainfall month by month show how seasonal patterns in the UK are changing.

Droughts and floods are the real issue here.

Too much for an area is often more to do with excess tarmac or compacted soil.

https://metofficenews.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/uk-rainfal... White is 40-45 inches. That or greater is rare, the only dark blue in England is a national park famous for its lakes and rain. The third element of too much rain is that we like to complain about trivialities.

You can't do this today. Laws. The private ponds that you see are grandfathered.

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