Wouldn’t You Have Thought?

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The Chinese government is about to complete work on what will be the world’s longest natural gas pipeline which will run for 8,704 kilometres. The Russian government has the world’s longest oil pipeline which runs for 4,000 kilometres. Around one fifth of the natural gas used in the UK is bought to us by the Langeled subsea pipeline which runs for 1,166 kilometres from the North Sea.

‘Ain’t it astonishing then that a Cumbrian water company may have to ask permission to impose a hose-pipe ban to combat a dry spell in that area?

Wouldn’t you have thought that by now that someone would have come up with the idea of a water-grid, bringing supplies from the water-rich north to the rest of the country?
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Poo Into Pellets

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Now and again one comes across one of those stories that just grabs your attention.

So it was when I read that United Utilities have been successful in turning human waste into odourless fertiliser pellets. The technique was developed in Ellesmere Port’s waste water treatment works and is being used to boost maize and rape-seed crop yields.

The serious side of the project is hailed as an environmentally-friendly way to dispose of human waste. And rightly so.

There are any number of wisecracks one could use about this story but, for once, I’ve let the opportunity pass even though I was sorely tempted.
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