Abstract
IN an article on “Water Supplies and the Drought” in the Quarterly Review of July, it is stated that the severe drought has found most urban water undertakings in a sound condition, with reasonable provision for emergencies. They should, however, thoroughly review their position in the light of recent experience, though they should be careful to avoid the wastes of panic expenditure. Complete reserves for very exceptional droughts are unnecessary so long as they are adequate for other emergencies and plans are prepared for surmounting the difficulties of exceptional drought. Long views must be cultivated, since large water schemes take years to carry out. Where neighbouring areas have common interests, needs can best be met and expenditure saved by the formation of regional committees. Since water is so much a matter of local provision, and it is so important for democratic government to avoid excessive centralisation, water authorities must shed their parochialism and work out regional policies which, when dovetailed, will provide a national policy of the best sort, namely one fashioned from the needs of the areas which have to be served. If they do not co-operate in this way, compulsion may have to be applied. For rural supplies, help must be, and has been, provided. But rural consumers must pay their fair proportion towards the cost. If all parties do their share, the back of the rural problem can be broken with the million of money made available by the Government.
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Water Supplies and the Drought. Nature 134, 134–135 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/134134c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/134134c0