Yorkshire Water vs Chinese obesity

South-eastern Britain is in a drought again, and although it is only early April, a hosepipe ban has been imposed.

Suburban Woking, this morning.

Up here in t'North, no ban has been imposed, but we are definitely in a drought.  It doesn't seem to have rained in the Vale of York for about a year.  A freshwater ecologist I know told me that things aren't looking good for aquatic life this summer.  Those poor frogs and newts will need your help.

I was curious therefore, to see how wasteful my water suppliers - Yorkshire Water - were, and checked out the BBC leaky provider calculator.

The rather startling information I received there was this:

1. Every day, Yorkshire Water lose 325.4 million litres of water through leaks. Every day!

2. This equates to a quarter of their total water supply.

3. This makes them the fourth-leakiest water company in the UK.

4. Rather than improving their performance, 2010-11 saw them actually become leakier.

All of this came as a bit of a shock, so I had a further search to see what saving 325 million litres of water a day could do to the world.  And apparently, if Yorkshire Water sorted out their leaky pipes, they would be able to give every obese person in China one litre of water per day.

Not only would the repairs negate the need for hosepipe bans in northern England this summer, they'd also be able to address the obesity crisis affecting the world's most populous nation.  More water to drink would mean fewer hunger pangs, I'm sure.

Come on Yorkshire Water, get your act together!  The people of China depend on you!

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