Imagine three days without water

This was what stuck in my mind listening to Paul Younger's Cheltenham talk today. After those 72 hours, we die. It's a frightening thought. Yet Professor Younger stressed his Jeremiad - for it sounded like nothing less - was not moral preaching; just grim warning.

"Water is not an island," he told the large weekday morning audience; and yet so often we ignore the nexus - water and food; water and house building; water and energy. Collaboration is the only way forward:. "See how Iceland is about to become a net exporter of bananas!"

As he was talking, I thought back on that chilling Film Society offering we saw six months ago, about the water wars in Bolivia - and then he mentioned it. Even the rain. "That there has yet been no major international conflict is down to the power of virtual water." Read about it!

Water aid

Our water comes from the Welsh hills, and is plentiful. Nevertheless, with all the information to hand about the effects of climate change in different parts of the world, I've always had a nagging worry about our use of it unmetered. Mark was the man who came this morning to rectify that. It took him all of 15 minutes.

I have to admit that the decision to instal a meter was not entirely governed by a wish to show solidarity with those who have to carry it for miles upon their heads. I rang Severn-Trent last week to query a bill that had come through, and the quick-witted person I spoke to showed how metering might actually be cheaper - and anyway we could have a year's trial. Good marketing.