The freeze that has gripped Britain has dominated the media for the last four weeks and so can't be ignored by BWTAS. Our chairman Wil Harvey kindly sent in this winter scene from Southwold.
The practical problems of freezing are a concern to water tower engineers. Usually, such a large mass of water doesn't freeze entirely and the outlets are under the surface of any ice formed but on older towers with pumping engines underneath them, the designers would vent the smokestack or provide bleed pipes through the tank to utilise waste heat to prevent freezing, the Round House in Perth being an example. The main problem is the freezing of the pipework and this is why most towers that are supported on legged structures will have a central column enclosing the pipes and the stairway, as evident above.
