England’s reservoirs at lowest level for a decade as experts call for hosepipe bans

24 comments

1. Probably should have built more reservoirs given the mammoth amount of rain we seem to have

2. Boy, some of that £85 billion the companies have paid out to shareholders sure would have been nice, right about now. Imagine having public facilities not burdened with £60 billion in debt, that actually had the funds to invest in climate change related projects…

3. Hosepipe ban for us commoners, but water companies are more than happy to just sit around while pipes are leaking and then pay their shareholders billions

4. Ah the type of experts that would rather blame domestic users and normal people than water companies who drag their feet fixing leaks which results in the loss of 20% of all treated water in the UK. And they wonder why nobody likes experts anymore.

5. Good thing we don’t lose 2.5 billion litres of water a day through leaks then! Oh wait…

6. all our water systems and sewage works were built by the victorians, the amount of extra people since then with not investing

7. If I see someone using a hosepipe, I won’t report them… Not that I ever did anyway.

   With all the money these companies are losing though leaks? And the insane profits they have reeled in and they still have not invested enough in the infrastructure?

   It doesn’t seem fair does it? I won’t be fair to them in return. Fix your leaks before you start telling us to reduce our water usage.

8. What about the ever increasing amounts of both water and electricity being consumed by huge data centres. Yet so called experts call for a hose pipe ban and most likely raise water bills for ordinary households.

9. Friendly reminder that nobody has ever been fined for a hosepipe infraction. If these criminal water corporations want to start trying to take people to court then… We will see. Personally I doubt they will bother.

10. How about them experts call for fixing those leaks first?

11. Instead of fixing the leaks which are pissing billions of litres of water away, water firms have chosen to pay out dividends to shareholders and bonuses to executives. And now that they’re running out of water, they want to make it our problem. Taking the absolute piss.

12. Wonder if this is possibly linked to not building any new Resouviours in 30 years….

13. They can fuck right off.

    We’ve just had 2 of the wettest years, back to back, since records began.

    We also have a temperate climate. Water isn’t in short supply, here.

    But they’ve used money they should have spent on improving existing infrastructure to prevent leaks (millions of litres per day), and building new infrastructure, on bonuses and dividends.

    Oh, and water bills continue to rise for the rest of us plebs.

    Again, they can fuck right off. I’ll be using my hose pipe as I like, cheers.

    Edit – I forgot to also mention all the pollution and effluent dumps. Just to add to the above. Shithouses.

14. I got in touch with our water company because the company north of our region has imposed a hose pipe ban. Got this response:

    >we don’t have a hosepipe ban at the moment. We haven’t had any in many years, we do try not to do this. …

    >We’re working round the clock to manage the impact of what has been the driest Spring in the East of England for over 100 years. Protecting the environment and the vital agricultural sector in the region in the face of such unusually dry conditions means doing everything we can to leave as much water in the environment as possible. Customers have been doing their bit, and whilst our reservoir levels are relatively close to normal, river levels across the region are very low.

    I’ve recently moved to where I am now and am totally used to hosepipe bans. It was interesting to read ‘We haven’t had any in many years. We do try not to do this.’

15. Am I missing something here. The graph in the article shows the current levels are pretty much the same as 2022 was at this time of year and in 2022 the levels dropped at their lowest point to just under 50%. The hosepipe bans and all the news surrounding this seems a bit hysterical for what appears to be very little reason.

16. Everyone needs to say f off to the ban. We get this consistently when we know it’s the poor infrastructure that leaks so much water. Imprison water bosses and seize the assets as a national emergency

17. As long as the golf course up the road keeps its lush green grass I will continue to water my tomatoes, thanks.

18. This country drives me absolutely insane.

    The private ownership of water since 1989 has resulted in £78 billion paid in dividends, mostly to foreign-owned companies, many of which do not pay tax in this country. It has resulted in a £60 billion debt collectively and £9.1 million has been paid to chief executives in utterly excessive salaries.

    Im furious.

19. How about experts call for the fixing of leaks? That’ll save more than a hosepipe ban.

20. How’s about this? Experts call for investment into the water system that have provided dividends for investors over many years.

21. So this means they’ll do the same for those golf courses too, right? Right..??

22. Drove into Birmingham airport yesterday. Water pipe burst and filled half of the roundabout. Pathetic

23. The Dunning Kruger effect in these comments is astounding. So many experts on the water industry and how water resources are managed in this country.

    If only half of the commenters on this post we’re in charge, aye.

24. I just find hosepipe bans so weird. I can’t legally wash my own car with a pressure washer, but I can drive 5 minutes down the road and pay someone else to wash my car with a pressure washer. If we need to preserve water, why are these rules not applied equally?

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