It's all about position

[accykeef]

I spend a lot of time sat in my office and I occasionally look out of the window and see this sight.


Not very exciting I must admit but when the sun shines it looks a bit better


If I stand up and change the height of my view slightly, I can see the wind turbines on Caton Moor.


Mrs Keef did not know that we could see them from our house

[trevnhil]

I don't know how, but I missed this posting Keith until today. The view of the wind turbines is good. It looks as though they are blowing directly on your house. It could be handy if you have a Hot Summer and a drought.

Trev..

[accykeef]

Speaking of drought, I was reading this morning about the very low water levels in reservoirs and rivers in the South of England. It is about time the companies invested in a proper national grid for water, like the leccy one. They are extracting so much water from rivers that it is effecting the levels of the water table.

Over the years, many reservoirs have been filled in for housing land but very few new ones are being built, we are doomed I tell you, doomed!

[trevnhil]

I agree it is surprising that there is not a 'Water grid'. I know that there is a Large Water pipe from Thirlmere to Manchester. Of course if they were to implement your idea, it would be expected for 'Joe Public' to pay for it.

Trev..

[accykeef]

Now come on, we wouldn't want them share holders having a reduced dividend no would we.

If you live in a drought area and they cut your water off, then you don't pay your bill, what can they do?

How do the water companies manage in Cyprus where it only rains every 6 years or so?

[trevnhil]

Feb 21, 2012 18:32:07 GMT accykeef said:

Now come on, we wouldn't want them share holders having a reduced dividend no would we.

If you live in a drought area and they cut your water off, then you don't pay your bill, what can they do?

How do the water companies manage in Cyprus where it only rains every 6 years or so?

As it happens this winter has been the wettest and coldest for many many years and there will be no shortage of water this Summer.... Definitely.

However we have been here when that have had a very dry winter and there has been water rationing. Some areas have had no water for days at a time. However the water system her is not like the UK. Yes there is mains water in the streets but when the pipe comes to a property it is taken to the roof where there is a water storage tank.
This means that you have a certain amount of water even when the mains are turned / cut off.
In our own case we have two water tanks on the ground and each holds a little under 1,000 lts.
The charges from water are by the ton, which I think is about the same as a cubic metre.
We pay about €90 a year. As well as reservoirs here there are also wells and desalination plants near the coast.

Trev..

[mpprh]

We have long periods without useful precipitation ( a sprinkling in summer just evaporates). We've barely had any since November and the lawn is yellow. Our average total annual rainfall is slightly more than London but it tends to fall mainly in a handful of severe overnight storms.

How do we get our water ?

Firstly, the mountains behind us have up to 3 times London precipitation and it runs through the valleys into reservoirs.

Secondly we have an irrigation canal originally built for farmers. It takes up to 0.8% of the flow from the River Rhone and arrives via coastal canal to each valley. More (google translation) : translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Ffr.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FCanal_du_Bas-Rh%25C3%25B4ne_Languedoc&act=url



Thirdly, older houses all have either water tanks or a spring or a well. Friends with a new house recently hired a water diviner to find water on their land ... and it worked.

We use the irrigation water for pool, garden, car washing, etc and it costs around €180 for 450 tons. The town water is purely domestic and used for cooking and washing.

Some people plumb their houses to use irrigation water for toilets, washing machines, etc. Others in remote areas install a mini treatment plant and totally rely on the irrigation water.

Peter

[accykeef]

You guys just accept the situation and take steps to reduce the effect.

Most towns and villages had water towers but these have slowly been disappearing. I feel the only answer is to build more reservoirs but that would be expensive. It is cheaper to ration water where required.

[accykeef]

Looking out of the window at the turbines this morning, they were shining in the sunshine. We decided to have a trip out to see them up close and personal and check out the view looking back towards Morecambe.

The plan was to park in the Bull Beck picnic area to the East of Caton and walk a circular route up past the turbines. As we approached Caton the mist had hidden the turbines completely and appeared to be quite thick. Not wishing to walk up there with no view, we decided instead to drive up to the turbines. As we climbed up from Brookhouse, there was more than a little bit of cloud on the hill and views were non existent..


We found the car park no problem but we could only hear the turbines which were hidden in the mist. This compass was designed and made by students of Beaumont College in Lancaster.


Walking up the track, the wind was strong and very cold but we continued on, the short distance to the first turbine, officially named 'Willow', by local school children. The sound from the turbine was surprisingly loud but we still could not see it.


Eventually, Willow came into view although the view was still obstructed by the fog.


Visibility was down to about 100m, as the tips of blades of this 95m tall structure could just about be seen at the top.


As for the view back towards Morecambe, we will have to return here on a day when there is a view.

[accykeef]

I have tried to match, the turbines that I can see from my window, to the ones on the map. We are almost due West of them, so I think I have identified the correct ones.

[trevnhil]

Well which is the one on the right in the picture.

Cheers. Trev..

[accykeef]

That is a very good point Trev.
The moral of this story is don't trust OS maps when it comes to the position of turbines.

This is where they are really - but there are 2 missing

[Bondee]

The map was most probably drawn up before the "repowering". The site did originally have 10 turbines, but they were replaced by 8, more efficient turbines in 2005.

More information here

Here's a couple of my photos of "Willow" that were taken in September 2009....

[accykeef]

Hi Bondee, long time no hear from.
I knew that the site had been repowered but didn't realise that they had reduced the number of turbines. Seems odd that they had fought to get 10 turbines up there in the first place and had willingly reduced the number by 2.

Standing next to 'Willow', I could see nothing else at all apart from fog, which was quite spooky with the swirling blades directly above me. We will have another trip up there when it is clearer and hopefully, I will be able to get some photos of more than 1 at once.

I am hoping to be able to see our house from the highest one although my office window will be much harder to spot than a 95m wind turbine! The hill behind, Claughton Moor is another 90m higher so a trip up there may be on the cards too.

[trevnhil]

As you say, don't trust the OS maps. But everything changes even things that you photograph. In fact wind turbines have been known to lose a blade or even blow down.

Here is a picture of all eight from Roeburndale road....



Cheers. Trev..