Whenever we had a dry spell in England we would be subjected to hose pipe bans due to water shortages ... despite the fact that it rains a lot in England.

Here in CA, where we get months of dry weather, everyone has their garden sprinklers going 24/7 and you never hear even a whisper of there being a water shortage. You can't even walk on the grass in the parks because they are totally sodden all year round due to the sprinklers being on so much.

Maybe it's a dumb question, but why does England suffer from water shortages when it has so much rain, and yet CA, which is parched for most of the year has an endless water supply?

CA is much better with grey (gray) water, and also can import it from another state.

Blighty is cr*p at the former, and cant really do the latter. Also, maybe blighty doesnt have enough dams? Not sure on that one.

What is grey water?

Reclaiming water from sources like the drainage from the rinse cycle on your washing machine, or from your bathroom sinks, or from your bathtub.... where no real raw sewage is concerned. This *can* be reused for landscaping purposes and it's much easier to treat than is raw sewage.

There are laws based on local jurisdiction as to whether or not grey water can be reclaimed and if so, how it can be re-used.

Its all a bit more basic than that ...
If you have a water meter there is no shortage
If like in the UK most still do not have waters meters ..
then there is always a shortage ... and you have to
hold back on consuption

But in the UK, even those with a water meter are subject to the same hose-pipe bans as those without.

Fruit and nuts nick it from us through this.

The Mexicans simply disobey treaties and pump the Rio Grande dry.

Of course, the US's obedience of treaties has been rather pick-and-choose lately.

Hell! Time to roll the tanks southwards, me thinks!

surely its like a lot of things - cost vs benefit - there are rarely hose pipe bans (although there is one at the moment in parts of the UK) as UK doesn't need the extra dams and other technology etc most of the time so its not worth the investments? Its like snow grinding UK to a halt where other countries carry on regardless - if we got shed loads of snow each year then we would invest in the infrastructure?

Sorry - getting my we mixed up, don't know where i am but meant UK!!!

No worries, Dallas rarely gets shedloads of snow either.

My mum with a meter in Surrey is not ... her un-metered friend a street away are...

True - but 2 flakes and the chaos starts!!

I never water my garden.......one of the joys of having a garden full of sand and sand dune grass....

There's an article in Wired this month about a company called "Water Security" who can purify almost any waste water to meet environmental health standard for drinking water.

My old neighbour in the UK reported us for using a hose during a hose pipe ban even though we weren't using it; the m***** f*****.

EDIT: not that this is relevant.