Forum Topic

Water shortage

There is going to be a water shortage by 2050. However the leakage rate is about water for 20 million people a day. Look at Brentford, all the flats being built. Is the water supply being updated? When the shortage bites the developers will be long gone. No forward planning. The water leaks recently in Chiswick are a perfect example.

Nicholas Beard ● 2643d12 Comments

Michael - fail to see what £500,000 Ferraris and Rolex watches have to do with lawn sprinklers.  We shall have to beg to differ.

Jennifer Selig ● 2635d

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/a6808401.html

Philippa Bond ● 2639d

Yes, and they're just as greedy. Utilities should be in public ownership.

Vanessa Smith ● 2641d

I thought that paying huge dividends to shareholders was a thing of the past.  Don't they have new owners?

Philippa Bond ● 2641d

"You can't expect the water companies to be running around trying to second guess what the property developers are up to."It's not about the Water Companies second quessing, Phillipa. It's about them doing accurate forecasts. They are regulated by OFWAT and they have a duty to fulfill. They have to provide water and sewage facilities and if their pipes are leaking they have to fix them.  They are supposed to work closely with Local Authorities and be fully aware of new developments and Planning Applications for newbuilds so that the can make accurate submissions to OFWAT when submitting their 5 year AMP (Asset Management Plan) to OFWAT so that OFWAT can set the prices they can charge to customers.The problem is that when OFWAT know they are paying huge dividends to shareholders instead of investing in repairing old pipes etc., OFWAT won't agree to them increasing customer bills so the water companies dig their heels in and provide a shocking service as Thames Water do.

Steve Taylor ● 2641d

Jennifer Selig asked:"it is class based"  - really?? I find that extraordinary - I've yet to meet anyone who boasts about their class or about being well off and certainly not as a way to impress the neighbours.  I think it's just your wishful thoughts, not quoting reality."Really ?It's called "conspicuous consumption" Jennifer which is hardly new. The term was first coined by Theodore Veblen as far back as 1899. It's even got its own Wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspicuous_consumptionIt's the reason why people drive around town in £500,000 Ferraris, capable of 190 mph completewith a thoaty exhaust to let everywone know they're there.Or sport genuine Rolex watches, or exclusive clothes costing silly amounts of money which most people simply couldn't afford.Basically if you've got, it flaunt it.Although obviously this doesn't apply to old money with nothing left to prove. Just to the rest of us oiks.michael adams...

Michael Adams ● 2641d

"it is class based"  - really?? I find that extraordinary - I've yet to meet anyone who boasts about their class or about being well off and certainly not as a way to impress the neighbours.  I think it's just your wishful thoughts, not quoting reality.  All sorts seem to love their verdant green lawns and leave sprinklers on.  Madness, they should not do it, especially if a drought is immanent - who ever they are are uneducated clots, neither high or low born.

Jennifer Selig ● 2642d

People leave the sprinkler on the lawn all day because they can it is class based sometimes. I read in a paper years ago when water meters were introduced in some areas well off neighbourhoods people ran two sprinkers to show they had money. A status symbol in otherwords. I drove to one neighbourhood to have a look and there were sprinklers just as I had read about.

Nicholas Beard ● 2642d

They shouldn't be building so many flats without putting in/arranging to put in better infrastructure.  You can't expect the water companies to be running around trying to second guess what the property developers are up to.Everybody should be taking more responsibility about the amount of water that they use.  It is unfortunate that the easiest way to tell whether you have a leak in the pipework on your property is to be reading a water meter and seeing the number spinning round when there is no water obviously running.

Philippa Bond ● 2642d

That was my point. Water for 20million  people a day lost by the companies and its down to us!!!!

Nicholas Beard ● 2643d

I think it's a bit much for water companies to expect householders to watch what they use when they lose so much to leaks - put your own house in order might be a good start?

Vanessa Smith ● 2643d

"The water leaks recently in Chiswick are a perfect example."Thames Water is only about profits and dividends for shareholders. OFWAT was weak and toothless for years so Thames could walk all over them. When the German RWE Group owned them, profits were channelled out of the UK not invested. The water leaks are the result of decades of  decay of Victorian pipes which OFWAT did not force Thames Water to address.  Three of RWE's directors were reputedly the highest paid directors of any Company in Europe at the time of their ownership of Thames Water.

Steve Taylor ● 2643d