It is interesting that the discussion on water shortages in London took place at the GLA. It was the mayor who has stood in the way of Thames Water from building a plant to convert sea water to drinking water because he argued that it would use too much energy.I just hope that this is not game playing and has some real basis of fact behind what Thames Water is saying.
9 comments:
It seems barmy that all the Arab countries have no water problems but here we are, an island surrounded by water and we have drought orders!
I believe desalination plants are roughly no more expensive to run than a treatment works recycling our spent water. What's more, if sea levels are rising, what's wrong sucking up as much as we need and redistributing in on dry land?
In the same way you can get recycling bins from the Council should Local Authorities in London be buying water butts in bulk and issuing them to residents? It is amazing how much water drains off a garage roof after a short downpour - I am sure that it would make a difference if more people used them.
Completely agree on water butts. Some authorities do hand them out but this one seems a little sercretive about this type of thing. I presume they think we are rich enough to pay for them.
There you go again Kevin, can't resist making a political point!
Water butts are a great idea - £20 can easily buy you one - or better still, re-use one of those old chemical drums rather than it going to landfill. However, it's our general usage and wastage that needs to be tackled and probably the best way of controlling this is for everyone to be metered. This would probably make most people think seriously of how they use water. What's the point of saving water if you pay a flat rate according to the value of your house? But when it comes to wastage, no wonder we don't take heed when the water companies themselves lose 1/5th of the water they produce through their pipes - and Thames Water is the worst offender.
Thames have deal for Butts @£19.50 free delivery,but I ordered one on 03Apr and no sign yet due huge demand.
Kingston do distribute free compost bins made by same supplier as Thames butts.
Folks in Kingston can generally easily afford the butts.Mind you if you have both it will probably give Prescott an excuse to push up C/Tax.
rgds Basil
Don't be so silly. There is nothing political about saying the Council should have water butts available! The Council has had composting units available but was not able to give them all away and they had to run two campaigns! You are being a little too sensitive or just plain provocative.
I have no problem with the principle of metering but actually you are right, more needs to be done about leakage, which in Thames Water (most of London) runs at 30%.
The problem of metering is that almost everyones(except pool owners) charges will drop by 50%.
Thames will start losing revunues and so be forced to put up prices which in turn will mean it is less attractive for big users to be metered.
The current system is perfect for Thames as peoples ignorance of charging tariffs means they collect huge amounts from ordinary households.
Who's being sensitive Kevin?
Anyway, perhaps this raises a wider question - was it right to have privatised the water companies in the first place? Unlike BT, which has gone from strength to strength, slashing prices year on year, improving the infrastructure and introducing new technology whilst still opeing up its market to direct competition - the water companies have to all extent stagnated.
And who was it that privatised the water companies?
Post a Comment