[jambutty]

Certain water companies down in the South East who have a hosepipe in place have asked their customers to report any breaches of the ban. Yet golf courses can water the greens and fairways. Incredibly they claim to have had over 200 such reports so far.

They’ve got a nerve!

What about those people who have a water meter? They are paying for what they use. So why shouldn’t they use a hosepipe?

I assume that hosepipe ban means a hosepipe connected directly to a tap. But there is nothing to stop anyone from filling a bucket, even a very large bucket, and using a stirrup pump to spray the water around. A great opportunity here for a stirrup pump maker.

The water companies were privatised much against the wishes of many people (but since when did the public’s opinion get taken into account with the government?) and are obliged to supply clean drinking water to the populace. It’s not the public’s fault if some 25% doesn’t reach the public. It may not be the water company’s fault directly if the enterprise that they took over was old and in desperate need of repair but since taking over the shareholders have received billions in dividends and they did know what they were getting in to.

OK! I accept that many of the shares are held by pension funds but then along comes ‘grabber’ Brown and removes any perceived excess. It would have been better if from the outset share dividends were not paid until the water company was operating efficiently with some 95% of the water being delivered where it was supposed to go.

When water companies tackle the leaking pipes debacle and reduce the losses to a tiny percentage I might consider such a request if a hosepipe ban ever comes into force up here. On second thoughts nah! Pitching neighbour against neighbour is not in our best interests as a community.

Sadly we cannot snitch on the water companies because no one will listen or they pay lip service to a complaint and then forget it.

To add to this grassing up policy a recent advert on telly was asking the general public to inform if someone was running a business on the QT.