An agency report says: Since the drought of 1976 the ability to make transfers has increased
An agency report says: “Since the drought of 1976, the ability to make transfers has increased. The privatised water companies face the prospect of tough new official controls as concern grows over the threat of droughts. The Environment Agency is pressing for the power to force firms to share supplies between regions when shortages happen – even when it is contrary to their commercial interests. The agency, one of the country’s biggest quangos, also wants the right to oblige the companies to draw up contingency plans for droughts – which some of them have still not done.
And it would like to impose financial penalties on firms which introduce drought orders, in the hope that this would concentrate their minds.
These proposals, which would require legislation, are being discussed with senior Department of the Environment officials and have been submitted to the House of Commons Select Committee on the Environment.They reflect mounting anxiety about the threat to water supplies posed by recent dry weather, increasingly attributed to global warming.The agency is particularly worried that profit-oriented privatised companies are ill-prepared to cope with a crisis, even after last year’s Yorkshire Water drought fiasco.High on the agency’s list of concerns is transfers of water between companies. It’s a nightmare.”Sevalco, the manufacturing company from which the trailer was stolen, immediately set up a helpline to advise householders on cleaning up. A spokeswoman said: “Carbon black is absolutely non-hazardous and non-toxic, and will wash off with a good detergent. But we are advising callers with any problems to get in touch with their insurance company and, if necessary, their solicitor.”.
We really don’t know what he was up to, or why he did this, but this powder has got itself absolutely everywhere. One man, police reported, had painted his house white the day before and thought something had gone horribly amiss with the paint. Another caller, Richard Gilpin, from Falfield, south Gloucestershire, said: “The first I knew of it was when I got up to let the cat in We have a ginger cat but it came in black from its walk Then I saw the neighbour’s golden labrador. It was also black.”Other householders were left with black carpets, furniture and clothes after the dust blew indoors. “It’s a right mess,” said a spokesman for Somerset and Avon police “As far as we are aware, it was accidental I expect the driver got the shock of his life.
The lorry driver was being held for questioning at Cheltenham police station yesterday afternoon.Police switchboards were jammed by anxious callers awaking to find their homes almost unrecognisable. As the driver, believed to be from Lancashire, set off back north up the A38, the lorry began spewing dust and it billowed out for 20 miles before another motorist spotted the cloud and called the police. Venezuela is unpopular as it has relied heavily on its oil and is too state-dominated.Further down the track lie Ecuador, Bolivia – the poorest Latin American country but trying its hand at privatisation – and one day perhaps, Cuba.. A 20-Mile strip of rural Gloucestershire was coated in sticky black dust yesterday after a stolen lorry shed its load as it passed through villages and hamlets during the night.
Thousands of people awoke to find their homes, gardens, cars, cats and dogs covered in carbon black, a non-toxic but extremely sticky powder. Herds of cows were blackened and the dust, normally used for manufacturing car tyres, made its way into several waterways.
Police said about 20 tonnes of the powder, said to be 10 times finer than flour, had emptied from a stolen lorry being driven north from the Bristol area. Peru is most favoured as it has instituted economic reforms, is growing strongly and building up domestic pension funds.Colombia, unlike its neighbours, has never defaulted on its debt but suffers an image problem. Its stock market is cheap for those prepared to take the risk.