When water companies talk about droughts and hosepipe bans is it an excuse to yank their prices up?

Question

I was brought up in the middle east where I remember years would pass without rain and I NEVER, EVER heard about hosepipe bans and other nonsense like that.

Answer 1

NO,.

It is because of enviornmentalists for the most part, and stupid politicians as well. It is a function of infrastructure. Same reason why California has power blackouts now and they didn't used to.

Look at it this way. Lets say you live in city X. Back in the 60s or 70s the City had 100.000 people, and the infrastructure was designed by the City of X public works department to service to service 125,000 people, so there would be the ability to grow the city, and so that if any part of they system went down, you would have enough spare capacity that nobody would get cut off.

Well over the years the city keeps growing, but the infrastructure doesn't. Fast Forward thirty years and you now have 220,000 people living in city X and infrastructure has expanded to the point that it can take care of 200,000, if everything works at 100%. If something breaks, you are stuck.

SO then you start to see rolling black-outs and power brown outs in the summer, hosepipe bans, water restrictions, etc. There isn't enough infrastructure.

WHY? You cry. Infrastrucutre is one of the most basic reasons for Government. It is why the Sumerians and Egyptians started civilization in the first place! Why wouldn't a politican make it their job to keep the infrastructure growing?

. A) Infrastructre isn't sexy, the news won't give you a gushy soundbite if you open a new powerplant or water well or waste water treatment facitlity.... but they DO give you a big gushy soundbite if you open a new "community center" or arts project or something.

B) Infrastructre is expensive. Takes away money for other things.

C) Infrastruture rarely blows up TODAY. You can use the money on gushy art projects or to reward your supporters, hope nothing happensm, and let the next Mayor worry about the infrastructure problems. This is what the City of New Orleans did for generations... everybody who could read knew the levees wouldn't hold if at strong hurricane hit the City...they had been that way for generations... everybody knew that ONE DAY the city would be hit by a strong hurricane... but the politicans bet that it wouldn't happen while THEY were in office and ignored the problem because it would be expensive and hard to fix. (That's why Congress won't fix Social Security, sure it's going to crash someday, everybody knows that... but by then OTHER people will all be in Congress so the politicians don't consider it to be their problem)

D) Infrastructrue is often made MORE expensive by bureaucratic regulations that the politicians have put in to reward their friends...like you have to have X number of minority contractors (doesn't matter if they actually do anything or not), and you have to pay Union wages (even if other contractors can do it cheaper) etc.

E) Enviornmentalists always come out and fight any infrastrucutre projects, even if they don't win this means that things go MUCH slower and are FAR more expensive (lawyers and Federal Court suits take time and money). If they DO win the project gets killed. Hey they even fight WIND POWER plants (apparently some exceptionally stupid birds can be killed by the rotors). No matter what you do the enviornmentalists will sue you.

Well like I said, none of these things cause anything to blow up IMMEDIATELY, so people tend to ignore them, BUT over time they build up.

City X grows, and grows, and the infrastructure needed to keep up with the growth just never gets built. It is to expensive. It will result in the destruction of the habitat of the Califrornia Brown Clay Pidgeon, etc. etc. etc.

And you wind up with more people than the infrastrucutre can support, and you get brown outs and black outs and no water days.

Answer 2

Because water companies care about profits they will consistently refuse to repair their systems - as it will require investment. If you can make a quick buck now then why care what's going to happen in 10 years when you can sell the company for a profit before the problems arise? This is a major problem with privatised national industries - you cannot hold corporate leaders responsible for their actions except by withholding your custom in a free market, but if the only way you're going to get water is from your local supplier you simply have to put up with it, as there is no alternative - and therefore no way of withholding your custom.

A similar thing can be seen with First Great Western. They recently bought Wessex trains, and the first thing they did was to make all trains shorter. This means that they fill the trains up whilst having less running costs from fuel. However it also means that the trains are so packed you literally have to cram the people in, many people are being told not to get on at certain stations because the train is too full - and you can't do a thing about it, except not travel by train. No amount of protest is getting through to this company, and it probably won't be until somebody dies from suffocation that they'll do anything about it.

Answer 3

Perhaps those in the area where you were raised were more aware of their water-usage and curtailed it themselves in times of drought ?

I grew up in California and was 10 during the first declared drought: they published such famous slogans as "Save water, shower with a friend" & "If it's Yellow, let it Mellow"... the second year they declared a hose-ban: watering lawns only once a week and during certain hours, and no washing cars.

We by-passed the lawn watering by rigging a catchment off the laundry and showers.... so we could pump that out onto the lawn.

Here in California I AM amazed at the water wastage I see in the south...

Interestingly, I DON'T think of it as an excuse to yank up the prices... we have a Public Utilities Commission to keep an eye on price-gouging.... though they sure turned a blind eye to ATT

Answer 4

100% right , and most are not British owned anyway , i trained engineers in the middle east as well for years , never a problem and the water was far better, no bloody lime which i recon the water companies should remove , look how many kettles you use in two years and it can not be doing you insides any good either

Answer 5

I don't know about where you live.. .My guess is "not the USA' . (hosepipe? not a word used in USA) But regardless, there is a point that you have missed . Fresh drinking water is in limited supply worldwide . In fact, many analysts have predicted for years that wars will be fought over 'water' as the drinking water demand eventually nears the maximum available supply .

Answer 6

Being wrong is often a learning experience (or it should be). Generally, you can learn more by being wrong than you can be from being right. Strange how most religions seem to think that life is not a learning experience and that some form of eternal existence is the "price" for being right or wrong.

Answer 7

I think you are correct. I can't understand why (when it rains nearly every day) we are told there is a shortage of water. Same goes for global warming. We are now being told that humankind has caused it. How long and how much money did it take for someone to work that out, and have they left pollution from endless wars and nuclear bomb tests out of the equation.

Answer 8

Partially - but some genuinely run out of water - BECAUSE THEY TAKE TOO MUCH PROFIT AND DON'T FIX ENOUGH LEAKS!!!!

Privatisation of utilities was a social crime and needs to be reversed.

Answer 9

Mordent has a brilliant answer. Can't do better. Yay Mordent.

Answer 10

Hosepipe bans are no longer in effect. Please remove stoppers.