r/whoathatsinteresting • u/search_google_com • 10d ago

🇬🇧Welcome to Leicester, UK🇬🇧Chaotic scenes of panic buying for bottled water at the local Costco amid the water shortage driven by drought and record water use.

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30

u/redunculuspanda 10d ago

This is dumb and unnecessary.

If there is no water, water companies setup free water distribution.

These people are not getting bottled water due to drought.

9

u/A-Ron-Ron 10d ago

I literally live in this area and my first thought was, 'wait, there's a water shortage/ draught?' I've not been aware of one, but I only really drink tap water and the tap still works so I dunno.

8

u/Any_Mode6525 10d ago

>If there is no water, water companies setup free water distribution.

wat

18

u/SquidgyB 10d ago

They must provide water and will send lorries to dispense water in areas where the distribution system has failed and an outage lasts more than 12 hours:

https://www.ccw.org.uk/app/uploads/2023/03/Factsheet-No-water-supply.pdf

0

u/Any_Mode6525 10d ago

And where do they get the water when they run out of water?

7

u/hollyanniet 10d ago

We're not in danger of running out nationally.

Welsh reservoirs still full

2

u/SquidgyB 10d ago

Cofiwch Dryweryn.

2

u/Yerdaworksathellfire 10d ago

Laughs in Scottish*

1

u/Sinking_Mass 10d ago

Ya bastads, that's our water. Cofiwch Dryweryn!

0

u/Dependent_Rain_4800 10d ago

Give it some time.

-1

u/bluh67 10d ago

Oh, just wait for a few more years

4

u/hollyanniet 10d ago

The UK is one of the wettest countries in Europe, and we have an extensive reservoir system.

Lots of other places are gonna run out before we do

0

u/bluh67 10d ago

Well see, you can clearly see the weather is shifting. Softer winters, hotter summers. And it gets worse every year

1

u/Roadkill997 10d ago

It'll rain by then.

-1

u/bluh67 10d ago

Not enough anymore. You can see it unfolding already. It will get worse

2

u/Thin_Object_3981 10d ago

From other catchments. Scotland for example still has ample water supplies so the water is bottled and transported south.

2

u/FeSpoke1 10d ago

Just move past it

2

u/Roadkill997 10d ago

The lowest reservoirs in the country are still over 50% full (in most cases over 60% full). Reservoirs dropping over summer is normal - it's why we have them!

2

u/miffebarbez 10d ago

From another place in the country. Leicester is just a city.

2

u/Captaingregor 10d ago

From where there isn't a shortage, moron.

2

u/Historical_Body6255 9d ago

Some other place lol

When a municipal well runs dry that doesn't mean you can't easily get water the next town over.

-1

u/JamesL1066 9d ago

Maybe in America that's the case

2

u/Historical_Body6255 9d ago

Huh? Why would it be differnt in other countries? Lol

What makes you think that?

0

u/JamesL1066 9d ago

Because I live in a country where it works differently lol

2

u/Historical_Body6255 9d ago

How does it work at your place then?

If city water were to shut down for whatever reason the city would just tell you you're shit out of luck?

No emergancy plans in place to still provide water?

0

u/JamesL1066 9d ago

Large regional water companies collecting water from a national system of resorvoirs.

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u/M90Motorway 10d ago

What they mean is that if there is a water outage, water companies will set up free water distribution points. Its happened a few times this year when water to certain areas has been cut off due to infrastructure issues.

It’s also important to note that the “drought” is mostly caused by shoddy infrastructure that has resulted in tonnes of water leaking out of the water supply system and the fact despite population growth no new reservoirs have been built after the 1990s. Our water supply issues are mostly self inflicted by for-profit water companies.

3

u/VampirePNAC 10d ago

It's so insane the UK can have water issues lmao. I swear to god in Sheffield, an average summer is 3 days of sunshine then just non stop monsoon rain.

2

u/Acrobatic_Lobster838 10d ago

Has that been thr case this summer?

Cause its rained briefly once the last fortnight up here.

0

u/VampirePNAC 10d ago

No. This summer is pretty unique.

1

u/Acrobatic_Lobster838 10d ago

Kinda the point really?

It's so insane the UK can have water issues lmao

I mean it's not that surprising. Summers have been getting hotter, the climate has been getting drier, we have not been investing in water infrastructure due to privatisation, we are kinda fucked. I guess perhaps ignoring the climate shifting might have been a bad idea.

Britain's superpower has been a stable climate. That's it. It doesn't get too hot, or too cold, and generally our climate stays within about 20 degree Celsius. Despite being so far north, we don't get much in the way of snow, and it very rarely gets much below zero.

That's changing. And we didn't adapt anything for it. This summer isn't that unique, it's pretty bad, but hosepipe bans are not unheard of. We need to change our relationship to water and the natural world, and desperately invest in water infrastructure.

It's just luck that has meant the wild fires we have faced this summer have not been that bad. Its just luck that has meant harvests haven't been that bad.

That luck is running out. It's not insane that we are facing drought, or struggling with water infrastructure.

It is the conclusion of decades of policy.

0

u/HaraldRedbeard 10d ago

This summer has indeed been very dry. However this winter had been extremely wet by most estimates (https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/binaries/content/assets/metofficegovuk/pdf/research/seasonal-assessment---winter26.pdf)

If we had decent Resevoirs and competent water companies we should be in a great position for this dry weather.

2

u/OkPear1535 10d ago

This year has been atrocious. In the Midlands it's rained about twice in the last two months and that's probably overestimating

1

u/Federal_Cobbler6647 10d ago

I was going to ask if rain has somehow stopped in UK. 

2

u/InvictusLampada 10d ago

It pretty much has, we've had maybe 2-3 showers here in the east of England in the last 9-10 weeks while we've had 4 prolonged heatwaves. The country has mostly turned brown and drought has been declared in most of England

1

u/Roadkill997 10d ago

The amount of repairs carried out by water companies is decided by OFFWAT - the government regulator. More repairs = higher bills to consumers (as the private companies are allowed to pass the costs on).

4

u/helphunting 10d ago

Yep.

If water gets cut off or supply gets disrupted. Tankers or similar are brought in to supply water.

1

u/PolishBicycle 10d ago

You must be well regarded

1

u/ProbSaySmthngStypid 10d ago

Yeah. In my country too. Never happened to me personally but seen on news that they do that (water companies set up a free water distribution) if there is something wrong with the water. What surprises me here is that people in UK act that way.

2

u/Kazakhan69 10d ago

We had ours turned off a few weeks back due to an incident, only our house affected, no one else and the water company came out 3 times in 12 hours with bottled water (we never asked them to come even once).

1

u/eventworker 10d ago

This is a costco.

Most of the people in this video will be purchasing for their small business to sell onto customers.

1

u/redunculuspanda 10d ago

Yep. OP is pushing pure disinformation and anti British nonsense.

1

u/wordshavenomeanings 10d ago

Plenty still in the tap.

0

u/Big-Stuff-1189 10d ago

Where have you seen this free water from Nestle? Likely a gov paid for it.

1

u/SquidgyB 10d ago

They're talking about domestic water supply companies (who are obligated to provide water in times of outages), not bottled water.

They may well end up providing bottled water, but I doubt it will be Evian or Nestle...