Saving water, should we be more pro-active?

The people who are not interested will ignore the media coverage anyway.

I have 3 neighbours who have all built small pools in their gardens over the last 5 years or so. I don't know how often they refill them but I often hear the water running for nearly an hour in one or other garden. As far as they are concerned they pay for the water so they can use it.

Definitely! We should have more media coverage linking some of our current issues with the climate emergency but I don't think this will happen until we start to run out of food or water

I try to limit shower time and don’t flush every toilet visit and am careful about running taps but now I have veg and pots to water daily it’s much harder. I used to have a water butt but there really isn’t a place for one in this house.

Not too far into the future water is going to be a serious issue for the whole world.
As for saving water, we lived on board for 20 years. So when our tanks were empty we had to fill up. We held 2,000 gallons.
We still don’t waste any water.
Exactly the same in our motohome.

When the (greedy and incompetent) water companies put customers first and also fix the 20-30% of all our water supplies leaking away and build new reservoirs, then I’ll consider how I can save water.

We are a large family currently so do use the washing machine a lot. But no baths in our house so all showers, the other 5 adults living here are very brief showerers, not me I’m afraid!

We don’t leave taps running when cleaning teeth.

I think people who are still on water rates rather than meters will have less incentive to be 'water aware', but we should all do our best not to waste water.

Water should never have been privatised in my opinion, and Thames Water is one of the worst. It even borrowed money to pay its shareholders, racking up debt at an horrendous rate while failing its customers left right and centre. Yes I'm angry at the un-repaired water leaks, the sewerage spills etc. and will raise a cheer if it does come back under public governance.

I was brought up to save water as my dsf was a distribution engineer for a water board. He was worried about supply back in the 60s. Water should never have been privatised.

teabagwoman

I was brought up to save water as my dsf was a distribution engineer for a water board. He was worried about supply back in the 60s. Water should never have been privatised.

As much as I could quite easily line the water company bosses against a wall and ( you know the rest)
But as obscene/ corrupt that they have been the coming water shortages arnt all down to these thieving *&£@#@#£#.
Our biggest problem is lack of reservoirs
We havnt built any new ones for 30 years.
In 30 years the uk population has grown from 58.2 mil. To 69.9- 70.2 mil.

www.google.com/search?q=The+uk+is+in+danger+of+not+having+enough+fresh+water&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:7b27c8ee,vid:ykj5rHnuYI4,st:0.

Water meters for all should be the norm.

Calendargirl

Water meters for all should be the norm.

If you had witnessed the fight I had to get a water meter........ my monthly payments are much less than half what the 'assessed charge' water rate was.

Of course anyone on a shared supply can't be metered. I'm not sure how many households that covers but I know of houses only 30 or so years old to which this applies.

Water is a precious commodity which sadly we in the west have taken for granted for too long.
Water meters and education by whatever means would help from the consumer side.
Efficiency, competence, less overpaid fat cats in offices and more boots on the ground would help on the other side.
Also research in how to better conserve. My son worked on a project in Australia where water runoff from highway gullies was fed back to reservoirs.

Rosie

A friend of mine is on a shared supply. After I suggested she tried to get hers assessed to lower her payment, she did so, and now pays about £200 a year less.

She was delighted.

I'm pleased for your friend Calendargirl. Different water authorities have different ways of reaching their 'assessed charge'. Mine went simply on the number of bedrooms, not the size of the property, size of surrounding gardens, number of residents etc just a 'sledgehammer' how many bedrooms. Then they charged the 'average water bill' of a property with the same number of bedrooms ignoring the number of occupants, make it make sense. That's why I fought and fought for my meter.

I've been careful with water ever since I switched to a meter but I currently have yet another blocked sewage pipe and I wonder if I'm not using enough. to flush everything through. It doesn't help that I'm the end house in a row of four and the house next door is empty.

Who is we?
My family grew up with water shortages. 4hours of water every 4 days was the worst. We don’t waste a drop.
My dad was a civil engineer and his specialist subject was water.

I seem to think that we do usually get warnings of water shortages but I haven’t heard much this year. Perhaps it’s time for the powers that be to remind us that water is precious. I remember being amazed that in the U.K. you could drink water out of a tap!
The water companies have made a mess but we could do better.
Except me of course😂

The greedy private water companies need to be more pro-active towards the requirements of the rank and file customer and less pro-active when it comes to raking in extortionate revenues to keep shareholders happy.

Or I can see the days when we all gathered around the village well, with our buckets, returning......

We had a water meter fitted a few years back; our monthly bill went from £89 to £33. We have a large garden and a pond. Six large water butts. Two just for pond top up. Any washing up water etc goes on the hydrangeas or the veg garden. We both shower every day…but just in -wash -. out. We just try to be conscious of the water we use.

MayBee70

I've been careful with water ever since I switched to a meter but I currently have yet another blocked sewage pipe and I wonder if I'm not using enough. to flush everything through. It doesn't help that I'm the end house in a row of four and the house next door is empty.

My DH thinks that not flushing the loo each time is not good, leading to a build up of toilet paper.

I know what he means, but then I argue that having a shower which uses the same pipes means a good gush of water going through.

If you have a build up of ‘waste’ in your drains, ‘rodding’ it all through is not the most pleasant task!

🚽🧻

I have a water meter here and three years ago I had a new central heating combination boiler fitted. Like many such boilers, there can be a considerable lag before the hot water comes through to some of the taps. I can run off a gallon of cold before I get any hot to my kitchen tap so I save that water and use it either in the garden or to flush the downstairs toilet. I might do this two or three times a day and I can’t bear the thought of it going straight down the drain.

I read somewhere recently that there are plans being discussed to extend the Ladybower and Derwent reservoirs in the Peak District which will involve flooding vast tracts of extra land. I am very sad about this because of the loss of the beautiful and sensitive habitat that it will involve - it is one of my favourite places in all the world - but mindful that if the extra water is needed, there is little choice but to do that or to build new ones.

I should have checked before I posted but the plans to extend expand the reservoir system have now been scrapped after public opposition and a re-evaluation of the environmental impact on this much loved part of the National Park.

Calendargirl

MayBee70

I've been careful with water ever since I switched to a meter but I currently have yet another blocked sewage pipe and I wonder if I'm not using enough. to flush everything through. It doesn't help that I'm the end house in a row of four and the house next door is empty.

My DH thinks that not flushing the loo each time is not good, leading to a build up of toilet paper.

I know what he means, but then I argue that having a shower which uses the same pipes means a good gush of water going through.

If you have a build up of ‘waste’ in your drains, ‘rodding’ it all through is not the most pleasant task!

🚽🧻

Good old Severn Trent have come out to sort it pretty quickly. My hot water tap in the bathroom has been disconnected so I have to wash my hands using a bucket in the bathroom has been which I then use to flush the toilet. I put myself on the vulnerable person register last time it happened so they guarantee to come out within 24 hours and someone in the office phones up to check that I’m ok.

Calendargirl

Water meters for all should be the norm.

Sad to say but if money is not an issue meter or no meter won’t make a scrap of difference.
If your attitude towards our most important precious asset is to just waste it you can’t/ change that attitude. That is until your water goes off.
People with that attitude would probably say we'll just go and buy some. completely forgetting tgat thousands of others will be trying to buy it.
And then what happens when there’s no water to fill those bottles 🤷‍♀️

I see what you mean petra, but for many people, what they actually pay out for stuff does often mean they think about it more.

Think of how folk are more conscious of turning off lights, not leaving equipment on standby, using appliances when electricity is cheaper, to name a few.

Yes, there will always be those who don’t give a fig for any of it though.

Are you allowed to have tanks ? We put some in during one of our droughts and use that for the garden. We had a house where there was no town water at all once and everything relied on our tank. You were supposed to boil the water before drinking it but we didn’t bother and we’re still here!