Friday, 9 July 2010

Hosepipe ban - it's official


Feel free to report any sprinklers being used, etc to this site.

If they are in Ulverston, I shall go out and film this, give a polite warning and if they continue, publish video on this web site.

.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I will carry on using my hosepipe,i pay my water rates or will they be giving me a discount cause i can't use the water when i want.

Why have we been placed on a hose pipe ban yet we supply them dirty mancs and there not on a hosepipe ban

Anonymous said...

United Utilities is the North West’s only FTSE 100 company, servicing seven million customers in the region and employing around 8,500 staff – 500 having been shed this year so far. It has 20 subsidiaries and is today the sixth largest water company in the world. Corporations rarely get to that position without ruthless business practices, cynical opportunism and serious political muscle. In these areas, UU excels.
Why do their work ?

Anonymous said...

more about UU board !
The same people who run an industry that makes its money out of selling weapons and arms which kill innocent people all over the world and fuel the conflicts around it are running our most basic services and have massive control over so much of people’s everyday lives. Do you think that’s fine and that they have our best interests at heart?

Anonymous said...

No amount of moaning and mud slinging (please don't use water from the tap to make the mud) will not make it rain. Lack of rainful is the cause. Yes, mains break and have to be mended, but no doubt those in charge want to get things done rather than be pestered.
Collecting water in butts, saving bath water for other tasks, using water in the home sensibly will get us through before things get dire.
Water restrictions are not new, we should be grateful that we have good clean water to drink.
As for anon, who intends to continue using his hosepipe, Is it worth a £1000 fine?
Areas further south are supplied from different sources where there has been more rain OR water is drawn from underground sources where supplies are more constant.
We rarely use a hosepipe anyway, except when we have it attached to a large water butt. A watering can keeps arm muscles in trim.
Time to stop wanting to blame someone for every inconvenience.
And don't complain if it rains on your BBQ this w/end. The water company is not to blame!

Anonymous said...

The water company is to blame UU have a connecting pipe to north wales but it will cost to use it.
I dont like any waste or misuse.
In this case its an element of corprate greed.
Esential services should be owned by the public.
All the utilities should be in public ownership and be controlled by the workers.
The present system has seen massive price rises and declining employment, services and detrimental environmental consequences.
Mr Green UU chief exec
"Philip Green warned further job losses may be “inevitable”.
This is immoral !
Even more immoral CEO Philip Green
Green took home £1.7 million in the last financial year !!!!!!

Geoff Dellow said...

There are two issues aren't there.

If it doesn't rain - it's a fact of life with no immediate solution other than the long term possibility that it's related to global warming.

Dealing with this immediate problem, I support the concept that we're all in this together and that irresponsible people should be encouraged to consider the future needs of others.

The possible maladministration of the water distribution is something we can do something about and we can do this with United Utilities.

In the past you may be surprised to hear that UU are more responsive than the County Council. When approached in the right way UU take action for the man in the street - they have a reputation to maintain.

When I and the rest of us, Councillors included, complained to the County Council about the shoddy workmanship in replacing the cobbles after excavations in Market Street, particularly after installation of a water main for UU; nothing was done - not even an explanation - total silence.

When however an ex Ulverstonian now employed by UU went to her boss and so on up the management ladder to the top of work in Cumbria, we got a very quick response.

Although UU didn't legally have to, they accepted the work had been substandard and came back and made good.

United Utilities, unlike the County Council have a reputation to maintain.

They are susceptible to criticm.

So when they attend the flood meeting recently in the Coro and show total indifference to sorting out the flood problem, they can be put on the spot, but what can you do about SLDC who shrug and say "it's a complex problem".

Come again - cleaning their drains is a complex problem?

So let's keep the two issues separate - work together to share out the water sensibly - and make efforts ourselves to get our Councillors to take action to get United Utilities to do a good job and when the councillors don't do their job, do it ourselves.

Anonymous said...

Geoff you cannot seperate the issues you must think deeper and drill down on issues
Water is a national treasure and belongs to the people it should not be wasted.
Stand pipes down south were an example of corporate greed.
Asset strippers should not be allowed to leave a mess and run off with the cash.
I remember British rail not good @ times but the best in the world now look @ the mess
JAK

marianne birkby said...

Hi Geoff,
You might be interested in shopping the nuke industry's water use?

all best wishes
m

Press Release - Radiation Free Lakeland - Marianne Birkby - 015395 63671

Warning over Nuclear Industry Freshwater Use

While Cumbrians face the prospect of £1000 fine for using a hosepipe during
the drought - Sellafield uses the equivalent of Millom, Barrow and
Ulverston's fresh water put together every day. Over 4 million gallons
are abstracted daily
from Wastwater, Britain's favourite view, in order to prevent the high
level liquid wastes from boiling. The industry pays exactly- nothing !
(apart from an abstraction license ie same as river hydro which puts the
water straight back)

While Cumbrians are urged to save water and struggling to meet ever
increasing water utility bills, Sellafield cools its high level liquid
wastes and douses its workforce with pressure washes on Lakeland water for
free , using more water than any other industrial user in Cumbria.

If nuclear fans achieve their ambition of new nuclear build, Lakeland will
be enslaved to cooling the heels of the nuclear industry for many hundreds
of years to
come. The waste will be dangerously 'hot' for far longer than the
geological time Wastwater was formed - a mere 10,000 years ago.

At the Lakes for Living, Lakes for Life conference last year, Eric Robson
Chair of Cumbria Tourism, publicly stated that the freshwater abstraction
from Wastwater is
"entirely sustainable" and that the Lakes freshwater resources can cope
with new nuclear build. Radiation Free Lakeland strongly disagree and
ask: should the Chair of Cumbria Tourism be "doing everything in his power
to promote the county's largest industry" ??? People love him - as
with the Bishop of Carlisle's pro nuke statements this is an abuse of
position.

A recent report by economists (not environmentalists) said "It is
increasingly clear that the era of cheap and easy access to water is
ending, posing a potentially greater threat to businesses than the loss of
any other natural resource, including fossil fuel resources," it adds.
"This is because there are various alternatives for oil, but for many
industrial processes, and for human survival itself, there is no
substitute for water." (Pacific Institute)



Notes to Editors

Wastwater to Wastewater - North West Evening Mail
http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/from-wastwater-to-wastewater-1.153654?referrerPath=home/2.3320

Attached:
Freshwater Abstraction - Sellafield
Freedom of Information replies from Sellafield

Correspondence with Eric Robson - a letter requesting 10 minute slot to
talk about nuclear impacts at the Lakes for Living conference was forwarded to him from the National Park organisers - he responded directly to Radiation Free Lakeland - we never got the 10 minute slot.

Anonymous said...

A water meter is essential if you only want to pay for what you use. If you happen to have a low rate and use a large amount of water, then of course, you are unlikely to want a meter.
Water from the sky is free.

Geoff Dellow said...

Great to hear from you Marianne.

I'll read carefully later.

Geoff Dellow said...

Water from the sky is free and people would freak out if that magical stuff stopped coming out of the tap when it is turned.

I've had it happen when i lived at the Falls and it comes as a real shock.

It would do people good to experience this and then have to cope with no water down a pipe supply.

Go collect it in a bucket from the nearest stream and then process it before it's drinkable.

You then learn to appreciate the service.

It's almost like the concept that money grows on trees.

We have little conception of all the factors needing to work before that precious liquid appears.

It would be good if they turned the stuff off for a week.

I suspect I could cope fairly easily: only 100 yds to the nearest stream with my two watering cans!

Anonymous said...

I ran a water project in India 69/70
I Know first hand the effects of water shortage and sanitation."Death"
That is why I am concerned at the rape of our countrys resourses by fast buck companies.
United Utilities workers meanwhile are looking nervously over their shoulders, wondering when and where the axe will fall in the next bid to boost those share prices.
These companies had key staff now its down to contractors who are not "Here today and gone tomorrow" but "Here today and gone today"
Ofwat have the job of regulation few staff and the teeth of a Gummy Bear "
This seems familiar throughout all public services ! Mmmm Geoff ?
Lets train the young and give them some security and we willl recieve it in return.
I shall be writing to the greedy chairman to protest about the hose I do not use.
JAK

Anonymous said...

I take it Geoff that, you have a large number of shares in UU and that, living in one of the wettest parts Europe under a hosepipe ban isn't slightly odd?!?

Geoff Dellow said...

Your cynical comment indicates that you see the world in black and white.

I've found that in the real world everything, and people in particular, is shaded in many tones of grey.

Yes I can find time to praise United Utilies employees. It's hard doing any job when you are continuously being shot at.

Yes it is right that we still have a hosepipe ban.

If, as I believe is true, many of our main reservoirs are still extremely low, then we need a ban until this is rectified.

Just because we have a lot of rain land on us, it does not mean that all of a sudden reservoirs are overflowing.

There is a considerable time delay.

We continued to be able to draw large quantities throughout a long dry spell here - we had water in reserve.

Conversely we should not withdraw water when our stocks are low as this would be a gamble. We could have another long dry spell so that we would then be faced with really serious shortage this time round.

Yes I believe our water resources could be better managed but this requires a different system than the one we have set up in place.

We choose to allow a big company like UU to take over as this is the way to achieve low prices, in a dog eat dog environment.

If we want to have a fairer way of operating then we have to resist large companies taking over and keep responsibilities in our own hands.

In the same way that people readily disengage themselves from the political process of democracy by not voting: too many people like to squander their own rights by handing them over to others so as to be free of responsibilities.

If we don't like the inefficiencies of UU then we have to fight to have control returned to ourselves.

But are we really willing to take on the efficient maintenance of our water distribution service?

How come what I observe when there's hard work to be done:

Clouds of dust as the man in the street runs for cover.

In practice isn't it really even worse than this?

People just roll over in bed as they're too demoralised to even get up and find out what the day is like.

Perhaps all they can manage is a moan about how terrible life is before another half hours of dozing in bed where life is undemanding.

Whose up for a fight?

Let me know and we could encourage each other more.

When a suggestion for action is made we could respond:

"Put me down for some team work on this one"

even though this action may not have all the boxes ticked correctly.

As for me, it's time to get going and start doing . . .