Well, with the impending desertification of the south east of England, I have taken the decision to do my bit and cut RO out of my water changes. I have already reduced it to 1/4 of my water changes, but given the vast quantities of water wasted through the production of just 25 litres of RO water (which is what I need to produce for my 100litre weekly water change) I feel like even at this reduced level I am contributing to the destruction of the World. I fear for the livelihood of my fish and my plants but must place the needs of the many ahead of the needs of the few. I will be cutting down my consumption to 1/8th this week and eradicate it altogether from next week. I am using London water and keep Denison barbs, Corys and those wee algae eaters that everyone loves (Ocelots? Surely that's a Central American wildcat). If anyone has any views on this please feel free to let me know. I live in Hammersmith so I'd love to hear from other London tank keepers.
As an aside, I was talking to a water engineer about rain water harvesting. I was always concerned that rainwater in London would be too heavily laden with poisons to use in a fish tank, but apparently its only the first bit of a rain storm that is a problem, the pollution apparently being "washed" out of the air quite quickly and so even in an urban environment it is safe to use rainwater just so long as you ditch the first half hour's worth (this was his estimation and has no basis in scientific experiment). Once again, views very welcome.
As an aside, I was talking to a water engineer about rain water harvesting. I was always concerned that rainwater in London would be too heavily laden with poisons to use in a fish tank, but apparently its only the first bit of a rain storm that is a problem, the pollution apparently being "washed" out of the air quite quickly and so even in an urban environment it is safe to use rainwater just so long as you ditch the first half hour's worth (this was his estimation and has no basis in scientific experiment). Once again, views very welcome.