Raw sewage dumped into the sea increases by 2,500% since 2016

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by nomadking

Without either of them prices would be HIGHER.

If they had done their jobs properly it wouldn't. Look at the profits being made by these companies, they're obscene.

[GrimUpNorth]

Originally Posted by nomadking

Without either of them prices would be HIGHER.

Just think if all the profits stayed in the public purse, the dividends paid by the water companies since privatisation have dwarfed the £7.6 billion the sale of the assets raised. Another massive Conservative own goal

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by nomadking

Ofwat controls what profits they can make, and the prices they can charge.
How does it compare to other major European countries?

Outside England and Wales, I believe it's either provided by state-owned companies eg Scotland and Ireland or by local authorities eg France and Germany.

Indeed … water was never privatised in Scotland so we don’t get a separate water bill. It’s billed with council tax (though itemised separately) and what you pay depends on what band your house is in.

[tweetiepooh]

Our water bills fell when a meter was installed. Metering water usage is a good thing as bigger users pay more, same as power.


Maybe we need to meter the leaks and then charge them to the company into a more general fund (but I bet if that was done the quango setup to us the pot would waste it).

Originally Posted by tweetiepooh

Our water bills fell when a meter was installed. Metering water usage is a good thing as bigger users pay more, same as power.


Maybe we need to meter the leaks and then charge them to the company into a more general fund (but I bet if that was done the quango setup to us the pot would waste it).

Metering domestic water isn't a good thing because it turns what ought to be a basic human right into a commodity and puts pressure on poor families to use less than they need. As a society we no longer sink wells or draw from streams, and we live for the most part in urban or suburban settings as that permits the efficient functioning of our economy. Piped water is a therefore a basic necessity for the health of the population and ought to be available on an ability to pay basis (as it more-or-less is in Scotland, with water payment aligned with council tax bands).

Water waste is possibly the most pernicious lie in all public discourse. Leakage from poorly maintained infrastructure is the only serious source of water wastage in this country. Turning the tap off after you wet your toothbrush might be the right thing to do on a point of principle but let's not kid ourselves that anything anybody can do within their own home is going to make the same difference as sorting out the THREE BILLION litres of water lost from the distribution pipes EVERY SINGLE DAY in England and Wales. (Scotland manages to lose around 460 million litres a day, so is relatively slightly worse than England on a per capita basis, although per mile of pipe would be a fairer comparison and I have no idea how to find that information).

Originally Posted by Chris

Metering domestic water isn't a good thing because it turns what ought to be a basic human right into a commodity and puts pressure on poor families to use less than they need. As a society we no longer sink wells or draw from streams, and we live for the most part in urban or suburban settings as that permits the efficient functioning of our economy. Piped water is a therefore a basic necessity for the health of the population and ought to be available on an ability to pay basis (as it more-or-less is in Scotland, with water payment aligned with council tax bands).

Water waste is possibly the most pernicious lie in all public discourse. Leakage from poorly maintained infrastructure is the only serious source of water wastage in this country. Turning the tap off after you wet your toothbrush might be the right thing to do on a point of principle but let's not kid ourselves that anything anybody can do within their own home is going to make the same difference as sorting out the THREE BILLION litres of water lost from the distribution pipes EVERY SINGLE DAY in England and Wales. (Scotland manages to lose around 460 million litres a day, so is relatively slightly worse than England on a per capita basis, although per mile of pipe would be a fairer comparison and I have no idea how to find that information).

[tweetiepooh]

Originally Posted by Chris

Metering domestic water isn't a good thing because it turns what ought to be a basic human right into a commodity and puts pressure on poor families to use less than they need. As a society we no longer sink wells or draw from streams, and we live for the most part in urban or suburban settings as that permits the efficient functioning of our economy. Piped water is a therefore a basic necessity for the health of the population and ought to be available on an ability to pay basis (as it more-or-less is in Scotland, with water payment aligned with council tax bands).

Water waste is possibly the most pernicious lie in all public discourse. Leakage from poorly maintained infrastructure is the only serious source of water wastage in this country. Turning the tap off after you wet your toothbrush might be the right thing to do on a point of principle but let's not kid ourselves that anything anybody can do within their own home is going to make the same difference as sorting out the THREE BILLION litres of water lost from the distribution pipes EVERY SINGLE DAY in England and Wales. (Scotland manages to lose around 460 million litres a day, so is relatively slightly worse than England on a per capita basis, although per mile of pipe would be a fairer comparison and I have no idea how to find that information).

Totally agree that mains leakage dwarfs savings made individual but that saving should still be made. Also it means that smaller households pay less than larger and that is fair. Why should the bill be made on rateable value and not water usage? A house with garden and lost of people would pay more than an expensive flat with one occupant.

[1andrew1]

French MEPs attack UK over sewage discharge

Three French members of the European Parliament allied to president Emmanuel Macron have called on Brussels to take action against the dumping of untreated sewage in the Channel and the North Sea by British water companies.

“We ask the Commission to use all political and legal means in its power to stop this,” Pierre Karleskind, Nathalie Loiseau and Stéphanie Yon-Courtin said in a letter to EU environmental commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius that they posted on Twitter.

“Since Brexit, the UK has excused itself from these environmental requirements,” they wrote. “It’s unacceptable . . . We are worried about the negative consequences on the marine environment we share with the UK and also about marine biodiversity and the activities of fishermen and shellfish farmers.”

Last week, the UK’s public health body called for the modernisation of the country’s sewage system after dozens of beaches were closed when heavy rainfall prompted water companies to dump waste into the sea.

https://www.ft.com/content/664595f6-...b-01e271e3ad8f

[Pierre]

The French don't exactly have a great track record in this area. Glass houses and all that.

MEPs. LOL.

[papa smurf]

Those of you who are bothered by this should avoid a holiday in Venice

"Venice has no sewer system; household waste flows into the canals and is washed out into the ocean twice a day with the tides. "

[tweetiepooh]

Maybe it's a plan to deter channel crossings!

Seriously annoyed that the release of sewage into the sea is still an issue some time after I last swam off my local beach(5 min stroll from my house).
Which was back in the 80s BTW.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by papa smurf

Those of you who are bothered by this should avoid a holiday in Venice

"Venice has no sewer system; household waste flows into the canals and is washed out into the ocean twice a day with the tides. "

That's what happens when the main system is from the 16th Century. Pretty sure most of the UK were still using the street for sewers at that point.