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Post by northwestman on Aug 12, 2022 11:27:39 GMT 1
More than half of England will be declared in drought today, according to documents seen by the Telegraph ahead of a meeting between officials and the water industry today.
Eight of 14 areas in England will be declared in drought status: Devon and Cornwall, Solent and South Downs, Kent and South London, Herts and North London, East Anglia, Thames, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, East Midlands.
The move is expected to trigger hosepipe bans by Thames and South West Water and could see further restrictions elsewhere.
Lacking any droplet of shame, Thames Water, the leakiest supplier in the country (600 million litres lost every day through cracked pipes and reservoirs), has come up with a list of hints to help customers survive the shortage, the one which Thames Water did so little to prevent. Hot tip: instead of taking a shower, why not apply a damp flannel to your perspiring parts?
Just to be clear, this is a monopoly provider which in 2020 awarded its incoming chief executive a £3.1 million Golden Hello after giving its departing CEO a £2 million Golden Goodbye when he was ousted by the board for failing to improve Thames Water’s performance. (Imagine what the fortunate fellow would have got if he’d been a success.) And this bunch have the brass neck to advise the 15 million people who pay them to provide their water that they should forego their daily ablutions for what my grandmother would have called a “strip-wash”.
Daily Telegraph.
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Post by northwestman on Aug 12, 2022 11:40:17 GMT 1
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11105089/Millions-hit-hosepipe-bans-country-faces-official-drought-declaration.htmlLarge parts of England are set to be officially declared in a state of drought today - forcing water companies to bring in even tougher restrictions on water use and threatening the closure of canals. Temperatures are expected to hit 95F (35C) today - making the country hotter than parts of the Caribbean and threatening crops like potatoes, apples, hops, broccoli and sprouts. Today, Yorkshire Water became the fifth company in England and Wales to announce a hosepipe ban for its five million customers. Southern Water, South East Water, Welsh Water and Thames Water have all announced hosepipe bans either now or in the coming weeks. South West Water and Severn Trent have all indicated they will also bring in restrictions. Together, they would cover more than 32 million people.
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Post by block12massive on Aug 12, 2022 11:49:30 GMT 1
Build more reservoirs.
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Post by northwestman on Aug 12, 2022 11:58:34 GMT 1
One of the most damning indictments is that not a single new reservoir has been built since 1992. Just as our energy bills have increased due to the failure to invest in gas storage, the lack of investment in water storage is now coming home to roost.
The bitter irony is that water privatisation was meant to deliver a new era of infrastructure funding as private firms raised cash from the market. Yet one jaw-dropping study found that all the £123bn of capital spending over the past 30 years has been financed by customers’ bills, while borrowing was used instead to fund nearly half that – £57bn – in shareholder dividends.
The figures get worse. From 2010 to 2020, the privatised companies paid out £13.4bn in dividends, while directors’ pay rocketed. The highest paid CEOs were at Severn Trent, with a salary package of £2.4m, and United Utilities, with a salary package of £2.3m.
Meanwhile, bills for customers – which have doubled over the past 15 years – are set to go up again, adding to the already dire cost of living crisis felt by many.
And what are people getting in return for their money? Well, leaky pipes mean that three billion litres of water is lost every single day, a staggering figure that puts into perspective the private firms’ hosepipe bans and their “laughable” advice like using a damp towel to cool off instead of taking a shower.
Another egregious failure has been the pumping of raw sewage into our rivers and coastal waters, which happened more than 400,000 times last year, with widespread illegal discharges from treatment plants.
The Commons Environmental Audit Committee found that only 14 per cent of English rivers are classed as healthy, with many suffering a “chemical cocktail” of sewage, agricultural waste, and plastic pollution.
What makes the failed English experiment all the more obvious is the contrast with Scotland, where water privatisation never happened. Analysis from the University of Greenwich found that Scottish Water has invested nearly 35 per cent more per household in infrastructure since 2002 than the privatised English equivalents. Moreover, its bills are 14 per cent lower and its boss earns a fraction of the fat-cat pay south of the border.
Paul Waugh - The 'i'.
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Post by northwestman on Aug 12, 2022 11:59:16 GMT 1
None have been built since 1992.
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Post by block12massive on Aug 12, 2022 12:05:53 GMT 1
None have been built since 1992. We have more rainfall than pretty much any country in the Northern Hemisphere. The fact we're not capturing this water and putting it to good use is criminal really. We also need to be more productive with how we recycle greywater.
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Post by staffordshrew on Aug 12, 2022 12:06:02 GMT 1
That's from 2013, so we were warned, but nothing changed.
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Post by northwestman on Aug 12, 2022 12:08:10 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/01/england-privatised-water-firms-dividends-shareholdersThe payouts in dividends to shareholders of parent companies between 1991 and 2019 amount to £57bn – nearly half the sum they spent on maintaining and improving the country’s pipes and treatment plants in that period. Critics say while continuing to pay huge dividends they have failed to carry out significant national infrastructure works to improve the water and sewerage system. When Margaret Thatcher sold off the water industry in 1989, the government wrote off all debts. But according to the analysis by David Hall and Karol Yearwood of the public services international research unit of Greenwich University, the nine privatised companies in England have amassed debts of £48bn over the past three decades – almost as much as the sum paid out to shareholders. The debt cost them £1.3bn in interest last year. Hall concludes the companies have borrowed to pay dividends, rather than to invest in infrastructure projects. The £123bn of capital expenditure spent by the companies has all been financed by customer bills, the analysis states.
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Post by martinshrew on Aug 12, 2022 12:10:29 GMT 1
None have been built since 1992. We have more rainfall than pretty much any country in the Northern Hemisphere. The fact we're not capturing this water and putting it to good use is criminal really. We also need to be more productive with how we recycle greywater. Would also save places like Coleham/Town centre, Bridgenorth and others downstream from flooding. Could also generate green energy.
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Post by staffordshrew on Aug 12, 2022 12:18:40 GMT 1
Shareholder Dividends, being a very visible figure are kept at not excessive rates, help fund private pensions, just part of standard business. But there's a more sneaky way to get excessive cash out of the business - the foreign majority owners of some of our water companies are making loans to the companies at interest rates far exceeding the risk involved in lending to a safe monopoly business.
The Times, (unfortunately behind a pay wall), reported in 2017 - The water watchdog wants the industry’s regulator to squeeze the regional supply monopolies to make sure that they borrow money at the cheapest possible rate to keep household bills down. Before the publication by Ofwat of its plans to set prices from 2020, the Consumer Council for Water has demanded that the regulator clamp down on the water companies’ cost of borrowing. It says that it has taken independent estimates and believes that the weighted average cost of capital should be cut to between 1.8 per cent and 2.5 per cent" - bear in mind that was at a time when interest rates were very low.
If you are a majority owner (I understand one was an Australian financial business) and you lend money to what amounts to your own, monopoly, business at a higher than should be rate then it's an easy way to extract cash out of the business without ruffling too many feathers with a too high headline dividend.
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Post by Valerioch on Aug 12, 2022 12:40:26 GMT 1
If companies are putting hose pipe bans in and limiting water usage, they can ruddy well limit their bills aswell. Where else would paying full price for half the service be acceptable?
We’re blighted by s**te weather 9 times out of 10. Let’s enjoy the last embers of this great summer whilst we can. It’ll soon be cold, dark and p**sing it down again
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Drought.
Aug 12, 2022 12:40:28 GMT 1
via mobile
Post by GrizzlyShrew on Aug 12, 2022 12:40:28 GMT 1
None have been built since 1992. We have more rainfall than pretty much any country in the Northern Hemisphere. The fact we're not capturing this water and putting it to good use is criminal really. We also need to be more productive with how we recycle greywater. Absolutely true. Could also spend a bit of money fixing leaks which will save loads. " drought" will be well and truly forgotten by mid Septembee though, every drought gets followed by monsoon conditions for weeks. Anyone remember Autumn 1976 🚣♂️🚣♂️🚣♂️
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Drought.
Aug 12, 2022 12:41:28 GMT 1
via mobile
Post by GrizzlyShrew on Aug 12, 2022 12:41:28 GMT 1
If companies are putting hose pipe bans in and limiting water usage, they can ruddy well limit their bills aswell. Where else would paying full price for half the service be acceptable? We’re blighted by s**te weather 9 times out of 10. Let’s enjoy the last embers of this great summer whilst we can. It’ll soon be cold, dark and p**sing it down again Absolutely.
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Post by staffordshrew on Aug 12, 2022 12:53:47 GMT 1
If companies are putting hose pipe bans in and limiting water usage, they can ruddy well limit their bills aswell. Where else would paying full price for half the service be acceptable? We’re blighted by s**te weather 9 times out of 10. Let’s enjoy the last embers of this great summer whilst we can. It’ll soon be cold, dark and p**sing it down again For those on a water meter they will pay less for having less - that was cited as a reason why restrictions seem to be slower to be implemented than in 1976. You use less, you pay less.
I preffered just paying my water "rates", but this year the bill was so high I reluctently went onto a meter - should currently save me £500 a year. But I do wonder how long it will be before the per unit cost of water escalates....
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Post by kenwood on Aug 12, 2022 13:40:46 GMT 1
None have been built since 1992. The workforce just aren’t available at the moment . They’re way too busy building the 40 new hospitals we’ve been promised.😉
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Post by Pilch on Aug 12, 2022 13:54:28 GMT 1
got to keep the grass nice and green at shrewsbury school , the kids pay a lot of money there 😜 Attachments:
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Post by kenwood on Aug 12, 2022 14:04:38 GMT 1
got to keep the grass nice and green at shrewsbury school , the kids pay a lot of money there 😜 A lot of the pupils at Shrewsbury School have joined mum and dad on holiday - Borth no doubt . Two things struck me, A) it’s burst water mains spoiling the cricket pitches OR B) the School are watering their allotments which , I believe , they are entitled to do by law . I just can’t see any other reason why they could be pouring thousands of gallons of water onto School grounds .
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Post by davycrockett on Aug 12, 2022 14:10:14 GMT 1
got to keep the grass nice and green at shrewsbury school , the kids pay a lot of money there 😜 A lot of the pupils at Shrewsbury School have joined mum and dad on holiday - Borth no doubt . Two things struck me, A) it’s burst water mains spoiling the cricket pitches OR B) the School are watering their allotments which , I believe , they are entitled to do by law . I just can’t see any other reason why they could be pouring thousands of gallons of water onto School grounds . Recycling grey and surface water maybe. They’ve go one of the best sports grounds around, I suppose you can’t just ignore it from July to September…
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Drought.
Aug 12, 2022 14:16:57 GMT 1
via mobile
Post by martinshrew on Aug 12, 2022 14:16:57 GMT 1
Sporting grounds/Elite venues are except from the bans I believe.
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Drought.
Aug 12, 2022 14:35:38 GMT 1
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Post by GrizzlyShrew on Aug 12, 2022 14:35:38 GMT 1
Sporting grounds/Elite venues are except from the bans I believe. Would that cover us? Sure it will once again be a storm in a teacup, will no doubt p**s it down for weeks on end all autumn.
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Post by staffordshrew on Aug 12, 2022 14:41:33 GMT 1
None have been built since 1992. The workforce just aren’t available at the moment . They’re way too busy building the 40 new hospitals we’ve been promised.😉 The workforce is digging tunnels for HS2. Who needs 40 new hospitals anyway? Broken promise? Must have misunderstood, Truss style, did you assume it was 40 new NHS hospitals? No, No, No, 40 new private hospitals for all the people who give up on the NHS and spend their life savings to get seen quicker.
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Post by staffordshrew on Aug 12, 2022 14:48:03 GMT 1
Sporting grounds/Elite venues are except from the bans I believe. Would that cover us? Sure it will once again be a storm in a teacup, will no doubt p**s it down for weeks on end all autumn. I should hope so, we qualify on both counts - Sporting ground and Elite venue. Greenwich park though doesn't qualify, or is showing a responsible attitude -
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Post by GrizzlyShrew on Aug 12, 2022 14:59:18 GMT 1
Would that cover us? Sure it will once again be a storm in a teacup, will no doubt p**s it down for weeks on end all autumn. I should hope so, we qualify on both counts - Sporting ground and Elite venue. Greenwich park though doesn't qualify, or is showing a responsible attitude -
Guess the poor old Racecourse might be struggling then? Its neither 😂
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Post by staffordshrew on Aug 12, 2022 15:21:36 GMT 1
I should hope so, we qualify on both counts - Sporting ground and Elite venue.
Guess the poor old Racecourse might be struggling then? Its neither 😂 But they have a huge fanbase, with no sense of decorum, willing to p**s on the pitch for a glimpse of Wyan and Wob..
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Post by Pilch on Aug 12, 2022 15:40:00 GMT 1
a drought has been declared in Shrewsbury
now 4 1/2 games since a goal.
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Post by staffordshrew on Aug 12, 2022 16:02:03 GMT 1
a drought has been declared in Shrewsbury now 4 1/2 games since a goal. Ha,Ha, but you must have missed the downpour on Tuesday?
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Post by Pilch on Aug 12, 2022 16:06:54 GMT 1
a drought has been declared in Shrewsbury now 4 1/2 games since a goal. Ha,Ha, but you must have missed the downpour on Tuesday? oh, cup games count now do they ?
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Post by Pilch on Aug 12, 2022 16:09:50 GMT 1
next time it does rain there will be a flash flood somewhere, the rain can't soak into the ground quick enough when its been baked dry
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Post by staffordshrew on Aug 12, 2022 16:25:16 GMT 1
Ha,Ha, but you must have missed the downpour on Tuesday? oh, cup games count now do they ? When it's all that you have to show for the season they most certainly do!
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Post by zenfootball2 on Aug 12, 2022 16:30:38 GMT 1
If companies are putting hose pipe bans in and limiting water usage, they can ruddy well limit their bills aswell. Where else would paying full price for half the service be acceptable? We’re blighted by s**te weather 9 times out of 10. Let’s enjoy the last embers of this great summer whilst we can. It’ll soon be cold, dark and p**sing it down again For those on a water meter they will pay less for having less - that was cited as a reason why restrictions seem to be slower to be implemented than in 1976. You use less, you pay less.
I preffered just paying my water "rates", but this year the bill was so high I reluctently went onto a meter - should currently save me £500 a year. But I do wonder how long it will be before the per unit cost of water escalates....
they will cite hte increase as a need to invest in the infastructure so i expect it to happen very soon.
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