Hosepipe Ban Rant

[Jax]

Gosh, I wish when I was on rates it was that cheap! When I was on rates it was £450-£500

[Two_Sheds]

The shareholders need the bonuses so they can buy big baths

[reetnproper]

How much of this is as a result of the abuse from those without meters.

In my opinion it's more to do with a combination of over-population of the country as a whole, together with failure of the water companies to invest in the infrastructure.

When the resevoirs and water pipes/ sewers etc. were first developed and installed, towns, cities and villages consisted mainly, in domestic terms, of houses, not appartment blocks, flats or uncontrolled infilling with new builds.

Take our village, for example:
the old post office now houses 2, 2 bedroomed flats so that is 2 lots of tenants using baths, dishwashers, washingmachines, showers, toilets etc, instead of one;
Where we once looked out onto open fields and up onto the ridge, we now see a new estate with 22 new homes, most of which are 4 and 5 beds with 2 ENSUITES AND a family bathroom. Even the 3 beds have 1 ensuite as well as the family bathroom ;
Behind us was a lovely meadowland but that now holds 3 executive 4-5 bedroom houses on it, same spec as the others;
Just around the corner 2 lovely old family homes have been knocked through and now house 6, 1 - 2 bedroom flats; and
Almost every available corner of garden or land has been built on.

And have the water pipes and sewers been up graded? Was any thought at all given to the problem of water supply BEFORE the work was started? No.

It's time developers (large or small) were made to pay a percentage of the final selling price of each house built or new flat created to cover the cost of updating and repairing the reseviors and pipes. We can't just go on building or restructuring properties and then calling foul (and blaming others) when the summer comes and water restrictions come into play.

Being careful with water (and we are despite being on rates and not a meter) may help but it is only a drop in the ocean (or resevoir ). These water restrictions will continue to come in to play until something tangible is done about the appalling state of the mains system and the resevoirs - it says something when a water company (Cambridge water in this case) is praised because it met it's water leakage target of 14 Million gallons per day (I kid you not - I even double checked coz I thought I'd read it wrong ) oh and that is apparently BELOW the national average.

Reet
x

[BUFFS]

when i lived in the south they talked about new resevoirs,but it came down to ""not in my backyard"",so now it doesnt worry me too much, as here in scotland,the water company is british owned(now theres a rarity) and usually it never stops raining,well sometimes,early last spring,it rained on us, part of each day,for nearly 6 weeks,and it wasnt considered unusual.it seems there are two sides to this coin(the weather),with some good and some bad points for each,i think we will all have to go with the flow(no pun intended)and remember that having a moan about the weather is a great british custom....

[DavidJP]

Everybody should be metered. I don't quite understand why they are so reluctant to enforce it. Here on the Isle of Wight the whole place was metered long ago, no one objected and it was heralded as an experiment for the rest of the UK. I think it settled that water use dropped by about 10% as a result. After all we meter electricity, water is a valuable resource and we need to value it more especially with the population heading up for 70 million and counting.
BBC NEWS | Business | Humble water meter comes of age

[Alison]

It's time developers (large or small) were made to pay a percentage of the final selling price of each house built or new flat created to cover the cost of updating and repairing the reseviors and pipes. We can't just go on building or restructuring properties and then calling foul (and blaming others) when the summer comes and water restrictions come into play.

Housing developers often have to pay water companies money to upgrade works etc prior to being granted planning permission so actually this already happens up front and not at the end when the property is finished. I've personally worked on schemes such as this so know what I'm talking about.

[SarzWix]

Not sure why this is being debated on the Vegging Out board? So I'm moving it to Chit-Chat.

[Topcat36]

Shocked ,wish my water was only £25 a month, it's £40 for a small 3 bed terraced, 1 bathroom house , my daughter lives in it now, hardly uses any water, in fact moved out for a while and when we asked for a reading it was very high , water company could not explain why when the house was empty for a time and one person living there, no washing machine, water useage could be so high. They fitted meters to the house many years ago and you had the option to use it ot not, i declined . They said if i used the meter the bill would be higher than the £40 :/ according to her useage, i dont trust that meter . I live in a new house, metered water, 4 bed house, 2 baths 3 toilets and my bill is only £40 a month . I have said if we get a drought i would take my water containers to my daughters house and use her water for my garden as i am paying over the odds for the water useage on that house(i pay her water bill for her as i own the property ) but they havn't offered to check the meter and see why reading is high . So if they cant be arsed to check then says it all really .
And people watering their lawns "whats the point really, it always comes back again

[singleseeder]

Given that there is a finite amount of water in the world: in the oceans, rivers, ground, atmosphere, swimming pools, toilet cisterns etc. etc....

.............. how much is now locked away in bottles stored in warehouses, cash and carrys, supermarkets, pub and restaurants, office dispensers, people's fridges etc etc. that wasn't 50 years ago?

Just a thought