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Golden Valley
Environment Group
Resources - they come from somewhere and there are impacts in getting them and making them available to us to meet our needs.
Water - water is valuable. If you are on mains water and are used to turning on the tap to get as much clean, pure water as you want it can be hard to remember that it's not like that for many (or most) people. Clean water is crucial to life, without enough water to drink that is safe life quickly becomes impossible.
We are generally pretty lucky in the UK - there's a lot of water compared to many places and we have a very high quality public water supply. If you live in the South East you will have heard a lot over recent years about water shortages and water stress. In Herefordshire the problems are less acute but we should not be complacent.
In some areas people rely on springs, bore holes and wells. With drier summers there is more risk of these supplies running short and for some people it's a regular fact of life.
A little while ago we arranged a visit from the head of Concern Universal's Malawi programme to Neals Yard Creamery to hear about the work that was done in Malawi to find and supply water to the people. Malawi is a very poor country and access to clean drinking water is far from universal. Apart from the risk of disease from poor quality water there is a huge amount of human time and effort devoted to finding and collecting water - time that is not spent on other things like making a living in the sense that we understand.
Masa was over in the UK raising awareness and money with Concern for their work - and by all accounts his trip was very successful - not to mention busy. So we were very happy that he could come out to Neals Yard Creamery to talk about his work and also to give an opinion on capturing and using rainwater.
Being
on top of the hill and relying on well water leaves the creamery
vulnerable to water shortages that impact directly on the business and
we're looking at the feasibility of capturing rainwater that falls on
the roof area to provide a bit more of a cushion against periods when
the ground water is short. It may seem remote now but looking forward as climate change affects rain fall patterns and as water demand shows no signs of decreasing (both domestically and for business - especially agriculture) ensuring that we have adequate supplies will be harder and ensuring that our needs do not damage the enviornment will be more and more important.
The picture shows Masa, Chris, Debbie (of Concern) and Charlie - the large white dog is not an expert on the finer points of water supply but was very interested in the cheese (as were Masa's children back home in Malawi)
Have a look at your water uses - if you have a meter do you read it and think about the water that you use. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to have to carry all the water that I use in a day - I wouldn't do it!