Saving water, should we be more pro-active?

Yes, we need to learn to save water. Like many others I save all used water that has no detergent in it from kitchen usage to water the garden, or wash floors in, take short showers, turning the water off while soaping myself or shampooing.

Private swimming pools in gardens should be taxed heavily or made illegal. Hosepipe bans enforced for watering gardens or washing cars in hot weather.

25Avalon

The stale water in the dog’s bowl has kept my hanging basket looking good.

I empty the stale water from the dog’s bowls onto our garden pots, then rinse and refill her bowls using the cold water that runs before the hot comes through-I collect it in jugs in the kitchen and bathroom.
Husband thought I was mad until I showed him how much cold water would be wasted.

Calendargirl

Water meters for all should be the norm.

They should be. But they are not unfortunately.

I worked for a water company and they had leaks that they knew about for YEARS and hadn't been fixed. They had 'accidental' discharges of raw sewage on average once a day. No reservoirs have been built since the 90s.

The CEO was on £20k a DAY.

When they stop all of the above, I'll limit the water I use.

Calendargirl
Water meters for all should be the norm.

WithNobsOnIt
They should be. But they are not unfortunately.

And if they were obligatory, the cost for those already on water meters would have to rise astronomically to meet the loss in payments. When we had our water meter installed our monthly payment dropped by over £50 pm. We had our teenage DGC living with us at the time, but even allowing for that, it was a saving.

We have water meters but the standing costs for the service are far,far higher here than the amount of water we use. Damn these private companies, they just want our money. I know people say that public ownership is bad but at least the profit isn’t in the hands of rich people who don’t care about us.

People are reducing their water usage and as a result the water companies are having more problems with blockages. This is what DD was told when she had to get the water company out within days of moving into her current home - less water and pouring more oil and fat down the drain.

While water company executives are very well paid. The real curse are the sovereign wealth funds and venture capitalists who buy up all the share in these companies with the express purpose of wracking them for every penny they can, and having rung them dry and loaded them with debt they then dispose of them. It is certainly is what has happened to Thames Water. often the debt load is what the Venture fund borrowed inorder to buy the company in the first place.

When Norway set up the first Sovereign wealth fund to stop its sudden riches from oil destabilising the economy, money they now use to pay for good pensions and for the health service, This was a good move, but now every country in the world has one. The Qatari Wealth fund bought Thames Water then a big Australian asset stripping company bought a share, then a Canadian Pension fund. All bought in for what they could strip out.

I think something has to be done about this type of investment, but at the moment I do not know how it can be done that will not put limits on industrial investment from other sources. To begin with limits on loading the debt used to buy a company should not be transferred to the bought companies accounts.

It would be constructively useful if the privatised water companies used the money they extract from consumers to build more reservoirs and repair the broken down infrastructure

This. Yes it's fine for individuals to save water, but I bet the amount they save doesn't come close to the wastage from leaking underground water pipes that don't seem to get fixed.

I think when climate change starts to really bite and affect us, we might see more activity from the water companies.