NO - I am not claiming to be psychic and I don't read tea leaves but I do like a nice"cuppa"tea. One thing which struck me when I first moved to Thanet was the poor water quality. I moved here from South Suffolk which boasts one of the most modern reservoirs in the country, Alton Water, which was built in the 1970's.
Alton Water was constructed by damming and flooding a river valley. A listed watermill and cottages were removed, brick by brick, from the valley floor and re-constructed in the Museum of East Anglian Life where they are still today. Construction of the reservoir was an upheaval at the time but now it is a country park with wading birds, sailing, fishing, country walks and cycling. This is what I call an integrated plan for the future, which I think is lacking in Thanet.
Coming back to the tea cups, they are both empty cups from my two cups of tea this morning. The one on the left was brewed using bottled water from Waitrose and the one on the right, brewed from tap water which had passed through two filters, installed in my home to improve water quality. As I said in the title, everyday I am reminded that water quality is not the best advert for Thanet.
This topic is particularly relevent at the moment, when the Environment Agency is consulting on run-off water from Manston airport being discharged into Pegwell Bay, it seems the choice we have is either preserving an outstanding SSSI, which is Pegwell Bay, or continuing to contaminate our drinking water. Well at least Waitrose will benefit from increased sales of bottled water.
