Water shortage

Just watch it

Just caught it Mark, 80% said, leaks!
I agree!
Don't give me a meter until you have sorted the leaks!!!
I don't care how much it costs, that is what WE pay them for!
Sort it out, forget profits!

Missed the programme Mark - any chance of a summary of the salient points?

Stuart,

I'll try. Though most will be obvious.

1. We still continue to increase our water usage.
2. If EVERYONE turned off the tap when cleaning our teeth it would avert a shortage!
3. Mid Herts is the highest consumer - this is where the water just runs off Andy's suit when it is in the wash and it goes into overload.
4. Bewl is now 80% full up from 30% because of emergency pumping from the Medway.
5. A poll showed a 50/47 split in favour of metering, but it was explained that it is complex in that some areas really need metering because they are inherently short of water whereas others in the North and West have no need because water is plentiful and always will be.
6. They followed the water usage of a family in Herts, husband, wife, teenager, child, baby. Collosal usage. 14 washing machines usages a week etc but not metered and had little idea how heavy their usage was.
7. Possbility of temporary desalination plants using osmosis being setup mentioned though I can't remember how viable they are; this was proposed to alleviate temporary shortages, say for somewhere like the IOW.
8. Water transference via canals explored but explained that as lots of hills generally too expensive or difficult to actually get enough water to the right place, though it is done in one or two places but only because the geography is right.
9. Showed the Pang near Reading; dry as a bone; I saw the Crane yesterday near Cranborne - very low already though not abstracted.
10. No mention that I recall of increased house building/run off/demand in SE which is contributing to the problem.
11. Latest washing machines/dishwashers reducing usage considerably.

I think that's most of it.

"Don't give me a meter until you have sorted the leaks"

our water bills about a third of what it would've been unmetered, and we use a fair amount of water having two young kids and we dont try not to use water (if you see what i mean) - but then we do have a decent washing machine/dishwasher which will make a huge difference. the dishwasher uses less water than doing it by hand.

i also live in the most expensive area......

I applied for a water meter and was told I could not have one after a site survey
when I asked why I was told my water tank was to high !

I believe you have to pay if you have a water meter fitted is that right Cakey?

Thats a very interesting bit of info Frothey, they say people with young families pay more don't they? That means with just two grown ups in the house you should be quids in with a meter then!

yes there was a small charge Graham

like i said, decent appliances. the washing machine i've got uses under 40l water - a 10year old one could use nearly 200! dishwasher something like 14l - which is less than it would take to fill up a sink - and it only goes on every other day.

south west water dont charge for meters....

i only wash my pots once a fortnight! an i use one sink full of water to do it.

it is a 500l sink though......

nope if you're carefull you just don't make many pots.

just get one big pot and keep adding to it!

thats a recipe for food poisoning if ever i heard one.