Snitching On Your Neighbours

[jambutty]

Certain water companies down in the South East who have a hosepipe in place have asked their customers to report any breaches of the ban. Yet golf courses can water the greens and fairways. Incredibly they claim to have had over 200 such reports so far.

They’ve got a nerve!

What about those people who have a water meter? They are paying for what they use. So why shouldn’t they use a hosepipe?

I assume that hosepipe ban means a hosepipe connected directly to a tap. But there is nothing to stop anyone from filling a bucket, even a very large bucket, and using a stirrup pump to spray the water around. A great opportunity here for a stirrup pump maker.

The water companies were privatised much against the wishes of many people (but since when did the public’s opinion get taken into account with the government?) and are obliged to supply clean drinking water to the populace. It’s not the public’s fault if some 25% doesn’t reach the public. It may not be the water company’s fault directly if the enterprise that they took over was old and in desperate need of repair but since taking over the shareholders have received billions in dividends and they did know what they were getting in to.

OK! I accept that many of the shares are held by pension funds but then along comes ‘grabber’ Brown and removes any perceived excess. It would have been better if from the outset share dividends were not paid until the water company was operating efficiently with some 95% of the water being delivered where it was supposed to go.

When water companies tackle the leaking pipes debacle and reduce the losses to a tiny percentage I might consider such a request if a hosepipe ban ever comes into force up here. On second thoughts nah! Pitching neighbour against neighbour is not in our best interests as a community.

Sadly we cannot snitch on the water companies because no one will listen or they pay lip service to a complaint and then forget it.

To add to this grassing up policy a recent advert on telly was asking the general public to inform if someone was running a business on the QT.

[accymel]

Oh jeepers dont remind me of my many rants to United Utilities about my bills increasing 18 % last year & their not bothered attitude of the non payers & the fact of being cut off several times due to their faulty pipework.

You can have a real good debate with them on the phone - had many & laughed so much with their responses

[Basher]

The golf course hosing of fairways, greens etc really pees me off! Have you seen their sprinkler systems at work? Crikey almighty there's thousand of gallons being sprayed.

Water companies are a joke and that's only because I'd rather laugh than cry. The increase in their prices year on year has absolutely no reflection on provision of service. IMO each price rise has seen an equal but opposite drop in level of service.

If they're trying to prove Newton's 3rd law of motion they're doing a damned fine job of it.

[baldy]

On the news a few days ago a cricket ground in surrey (i think) has piped up a tank from the showers so all the shower water that is used goes into the tank to be used on the pitch...hopefully a few other places will adopt to this idea!!!

[Madhatter]

Jam butty, I don't believe for one second that you'd waste water if a ban came in up there. Anybody with a brain down there wouldn't be wasting water, as they've had a water shortage for months now, you may recall someone on here mentioning it after I discussed it in chat. The situation is very unusual, and is likely to persist for some considerable time, the government will more than likely have to intervene and pump extra cash in. Fixing the leaks would be a good start but that won't solve the water shortage, and a pipeline from here or up your way would be very expensive to build.
Imagine the whole of London without water, no water no sewerage, but not just London, the whole of the south east, and its spreading.
Therefore I don't think the ban is unreasonable or to ask people to grass others up is.
It's the actual ban thats messed up. I can leave an outside tap running 24/7 but not if i attach a 6 inch piece of hosepipe. I can't use a hosepipe with a trigger on the end, or automatic watering systems that deliver fixed amounts of water straight to a plants roots, but I can wet the surface with a watering can.

[Madhatter]

Imagine what its going to be like if we have a hot summer.

[accymel]

Well if worse comes to worse for our southern drouties we could always come to a nice little agreement in a bucket for them

I'suppose UU have already done that

[katex]

Originally Posted by Madhatter

Imagine what its going to be like if we have a hot summer.

Would just love it if we had a hot summer, sat out late at night with a glass of wine in my hand, making use of all those colourful summer tops I have acquired, walking leisurely in the street and stopping to greet friends and chat without wanting to get out of the rain, waking up to the sun smiling through my bedroom window ... aaah yes, loved 1976 ! just newly moved into this house and got to know all my neighbours.

Water: just enough for showers, drinking and washing/washing up,flush the loo. Sod the grass, couldn't care less if it turned yellow and as for me car, well, as long as the mechanics ok, not too troubled if the silver has turned grey. People will just have to get their priorities right. As for golf clubs and cricket pitches, well, why not ? ... they keep us entertained in hot weather so again another priority; sure if football was played in the Summer nobody would be grumbling around here if they had to water the pitch.

Apologies for dream thoughts Butty, don't know enough about the political administration of the water companies to comment here.

[Busman747]

I have a theory! (I feel like Martin Luther King!)

Gas and electricity are both delivered via a meter - and I think that the various water boards want the same!

In the summer of 2005, the twin reservoirs just ouside of Great Harwood were brimming to full - and yet in December/Jan of this year, they were depleted! Even now, they are well below capacity so my theory is that the water boards are forcing a shortage to pressurise the Government to enforce the fitting of water meters.

They lose out on single person dwellings but gain dramatically with family homes - - -

[Madhatter]

I have a theory. You could be fighting to keep what left in your reservoirs just for yourselves up there.

[jambutty]

I don’t waste anything that I have to pay for Madhatter but I’m damned if I would take kindly to any sort of a water ban to preserve what we have when billions of gallons get wasted from leaks. We are being asked not to waste water by the prime waster. There just ain’t no justice! For me any ban is totally unreasonable whilst 25% of the water is wasted through leaks.

The water companies all cry poverty and want to increase prices beyond reason when it comes to spending on new pipes etc yet they can still pay out handsome dividends to the share holders. The chancellor has his sticky fingers in the pie as well.

We, the general public, are being taken for mugs again and we sit back and let it happen!

If the water companies spent ALL THEIR PROFITS for a couple of years on replacing old pipes and repairing leaks the problem would solve itself.

Don’t worry about London being without water. If the global warming forecast is anywhere near accurate London will have more water than it could handle in the not too distant future. It would be sea water of course.

It’s “I Have A Dream” Busman747 but I take your point although I doubt if the water companies are deliberately emptying reservoirs to try and force an issue. More likely it was leaks in the pipes.

Incidentally gardens do not need watering as much as we think. Plants will search for water when they need it by burying their roots deeper. In fact those people who use a watering can to water bedding plants are just encouraging the roots to come to the surface in search for water. It’s better to pour a pint close to the stem and let the water soak away downwards than just wetting the top half inch of soil, which soon evaporates anyway.

[Madhatter]

I am worried about london though, and they wouldn't have time to fix the pipes anyway. This problem is here now and it's not going to go away and could even affect you.

[talentedbutslow]

Currently in Brisbane we have level 2 water restrictions....our dams around Brisbane are at 34% capacity only.....and we can only water 3 days a week between 7 pm and 7 am......sprinklers are banned....can,t wash your car except via a bucket.and we have inspectors roaming the streets watching for infringements.....neighbours dobbing in neighbours....oh.....by the way.....this is the "LUCKY COUNTRY"......

[SPUGGIE J]

TBS your lot have just come out of summer so supply will be low. We have come out of winter with this problem. I blame the planers not just the water boards. If you are going to build large amounts of housing you have to be sure of the infrastructure and that includes water. These people building houses must have an idea of the water situation before the put up housing.

[talentedbutslow]

HMMMMM...........up north of us......they have justed copped 236 mm in 24 hrs.....from cyclone Monica.........all going to waste........