Drought Order in SE. Hosepipe ban.

[sean5302]

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[jonny round boy]

Saw a report a couple of weeks ago which said that on average the water companies only collect 5% of the water available to them (ie water that they could reasonably collect, not 5% of total rainfall!) - the other 95% is allowed to leak back into the sea.

[trundlecat]

You tell em Sean!

[rbrears]

I find it hilarious that since the ban came in here in Sussex its rained almost every day. Perhaps the water companies should put the bans in place at the beginning of the Winter so that we get the rain we need

[trundlecat]

The whole thing is a farce & a swindle. I disagree totally with anyone making a profit from water. It should never have been privatised. Of course there'll always be huge profits cos consumers don't have much of a chioce unless you assemble your own purifying plant or want to risk getting cholera

[thecornflake]

I'm surprised no-one has tried to take the water companies to court using the Human Rights Act. I'm sure there must be some crazy law there that states you have a basic right to water in your home.

[Surfer01]

I lived in South Africa for 43 years and only once did we experience a water shortage. A new dam was then built and no more water shortages and this is a country where some places do not see rain for several years not a few months. These water companies need to get their act together. I am surprised that a de-salination plant has not been built.

[sean5302]

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[cazibeli]

Hi Guys this is my 1st post on the forum

 

Just thought I would point out that u can use your hose pipe to clean your garden as it is against health ot safety rules.

 

Maybe you should bare it in mind when your garden needs a bit of water

[norvernrob]

You can also use a hosepipe to top up your pond, as fish are classed as livestock and cannot be left to suffer. Drain some pondwater onto your plants then top up the pond - completely legal. If you haven't got a pond build one! Then when you initially fill it - carry 2 buckets of water out, bung them in then 'top up' the rest

[blueskies]

The thing to remember is that you can do absolutely anything with a hosepipe EXCEPT wash a car or water a garden. You can fill any container (such as a watering can so you don't have to carry it full anywhere), any pond, pool, water but etc.

 

This Does not apply if a Drought Order has been placed on an area. If this is the case then the water companies can impose stricter restrictions.

[dave]

In this county it is impossible to cut anyone's water supply off - regardless of if the bill is paid or not - we do have a basic right to water, and that is why.

 

What gets me is that now it's privatised (which IMO it should never have been), that the investment needed to fix 100 year old pipes leaking BILLIONS of gallons per day will never see the light of day.

 

In fact, WE have to go without so that the shareholders can carry on increasing their profits year on year, rather than keeping a healthy income (which is what shareholding used to be about).

 

So, in an effort to keep the rich richer, the 'poor' have to cut back on their water??!!!

 

What a country.

[Guest Mumofthreeboys]

Bloody well said Dave xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I love you, MOTB

[Rich44]

It's true look at Thames water nice tidy little profits and millions of gallons of water just running away and OFWAT didnt fine them for it, typical.

 

What they should have to power to do is cap their "profit" and say well hang on a minute you're making all this profit but you havent met your targets and now you have imposed a hose pipe ban so your profits are now capped at say £10m a year and every single penny over that amount has to be put back until you are meeting targets - I bet they get the leaks fixed damn quick then!

[Rob S]

I think OFWAT have ordered Thames Water to spend £150 million of their profits in fixing leaks.

[Rich44]

If true thats less than half it should be the lot as punishment for not hitting their targets in the first place

[andrew1]

Actually, why don't they attach a meter to every leak and pay customers back what they lose. That'll keep them on their toes!

[Rich44]

lol nice idea I like it

[trundlecat]

How can they not be forced to make a reduction in bills to households affected by the hosepipe ban? They're not getting the service that they're meant to due to the water company not sorting out the leaks but Joe Public's still having to pay full price giving the company huge profits? How are they getting away with doing that? If I wanted to travel from London to Edinburgh by train but the track was unusable from Berwick onwards I'd only pay from London to Berwick, not the full fare to Edinburgh because that's what the service was "meant" to be. It's a complete & utter scandal.

[andrew1]

Also, these fines that Ofwat impose - who gets the money? the treasury? they are just taking money from the public okay the shareholders might suffer ( poor darlings) but fines don't ever benefit the people who pay out every month.

[pieterclassens]

Firstly the money should be given back as a rebate in my opinion!!!

 

And regarding the washing the car story. You are allowed to wash your windscreen and headlights as these are items of safety. Or you can wash your entire car if you use recycled water (in other words your dirty bath or washing up water) .... same goes for your garden (assuming you dont have a pond LOL)

[sean5302]

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