to think the water companies need to buck their ideas up

[JenniferBooth]

SE water failures yet again. Even had the temerity to write to customers to tell them to be extra careful with their usage. I come under Anglian Water and we had three burst pipes in this part of Essex last week . I heard that my hairdresser had to empty her emersion tank so she could wash clients hair. She couldnt rebook because she is fully booked. Bad enough there is an aversion to air con in this country but now we are begrudged running water in a heatwave too.

No, it's not the same.

As people working in these companies we see how much work is actually done and how much money is actually invested and we know it's not "fuck all" like people claim. It's the ignorance that pisses us off.

No, there haven't been any new reservoirs built. But my company has spent billions every single years laying thousands of miles of new pipes to boost resilience and keep up with the growing population. We work with the environment agency to reduce sewage spill as much as possible. Billions has been invested into river health campaigns which have measurable improvements in river health as a result. We consistently monitor water quality in all of our major rivers and have teams dedicated to improving it and protecting the animals that live there. There is new legislation coming which I don't think the public know about yet but we're already working on delivering to ensure rivers are clean enough to bathe in in popular spots. There is SO MUCH work done to make things better. And no one knows about it because all you see on the news is "shit in the river again".

It's the ignorance that pisses us off. You can even see it on this thread, people scoffing we can't possibly run out of water because I water my roses! They don't even understand that we haven't run out of water, they're just draining the pipes faster than we can fill them. If they actually knew what we all do we wouldn't be annoyed!

Conversely, I don't blame the NHS for doctors treating me badly, I blame the doctors because they should be better. I blame the NHS for long waiting lists not the doctors but I certainly do blame the actual doctors themselves for all the harm they've caused me over the years! No one made them hurt me,. certainly not the NHS as an organisation!

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/dirty-business

Definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it. Compelling (well horrifying) docudrama on our ongoing sewage / water privatisation scandal.

No, there haven't been any new reservoirs built. But my company has spent billions every single years laying thousands of miles of new pipes to boost resilience and keep up with the growing population. We work with the environment agency to reduce sewage spill as much as possible. Billions has been invested into river health campaigns which have measurable improvements in river health as a result. We consistently monitor water quality in all of our major rivers and have teams dedicated to improving it and protecting the animals that live there. There is new legislation coming which I don't think the public know about yet but we're already working on delivering to ensure rivers are clean enough to bathe in in popular spots. There is SO MUCH work done to make things better.
And yet there’s still shit in all the rivers and beaches. It sounds like you’re defending the status quo when the status quo is demonstrably nowhere near enough. Nobody is suggesting you don’t personally work hard, but they clearly need at least double the staff and double the investment into preventing spills.

I see sewage in the Thames almost every single day, even though I think some might come from the boats. It’s floating, one way or the other.

And you might be working with EA but the new proposals for extracting water at Teddington and releasing treated effluent is only beneficial for the company.

Easier and cheaper for the company than maintaining the pipes.

The companies like SE Water manage the supply network. They are not, despite the common name, actually supply water.

They are generally not failing in their contracts inasmuch as any network supplier can experience issues (pipes burst etc) and their obligation is to fix them, and also to provide alternative supplies (which i think they do by having standpipes and delivering bottled water).

Everybody is up in arms because they asked people to moderate their usage but that was a sensible thing to do.

1. The alternative was to issue and enforce a hosepipe ban on the really hot days, meaning no-one could fill a paddling pool for the kids.
2. The network provides a certain volume at a certain pressure. When demand peaks (because of hot weather or higher population) some areas of the network lose pressure and eventually water because other areas are closer to the source of supply. If people moderated then everyone would get something. (I laugh because people talk about nationalisation to make things fairer but are not actually prepared to modify their behaviour to make things fairer)
3. The average UK user consumes 144l per day (IIRC) compared to 112 across Europe. That's 25+% higher and there's really no good reason for it (grey water would help but that's not something SEW can resolve)

I wonder if you live near me? Exactly that happens in my town.

Upstream there is a sewage* treatment works that regularly discharges into the same river, and it's close to a popular swimming and boating spot. I used to take my dog for walks near there, and often contemplated stopping to tell people that they were quite probably swimming in sewage.

It's Southern Water here. While they manage to keep the mains water running most of the time, they also waste a lot. According to their leak map, there are currently 5 reported leaks in my small town, and a couple of years ago there was a massive mains leak in Hastings that spouted like a geyser for days on end.

They are the most expensive water company in the UK, with an average bill of £759 for combined water and sewage.

*I refuse to call it "wastewater", I'm sure they only call it that because it sounds less unpleasant when they're pouring it into rivers and onto beaches.

For repeat offenders, I don't think locking them up for a few weeks would be over the top, tbh.

I'm with South west water and thought we were the most expensive but maybe not. I'm fed up of the beach discharges. It's disgusting. Any employees want to come on and explain why it keeps happening?

It is so hard being a water company employee at the moment. Everyone hates this kind of situation and is doing absolutely everything possible to resolve it.
I also think there is a genuine lack of understanding from the public about how the water supply actually works. I've seen so many comments in the last few days about how SE water have 'switched off' the water again, when in reality it seems the water has been used up by customers closer to the supply before it can reach those on higher ground.
I don't think water companies help themsellves though, I've seen statements issued saying there is trouble keeping the service reservoirs at a decent level, without explaining that this is not the same thing as a reservoir used for catching and storing rainfall. In fact a service reservoir is where treated drinking water is briefly stored after it is treated ready to go into supply to customers. These can empty rapidly at periods of high demand such as this recent heatwave, and if demand is very high the process of treating the water can't keep up to maintain supply.
At the moment the public and media view of the water industry is so negative it is impossible to see how it can be changed.

The water companies are mostly owned by foreign private equity companies who have effectively used them as leveraged debt vehicles. Macquarie Bank for example bought Thames Water, took out £10Bn (yes billion!) of debt which it then paid to itself as dividends and then did a runner.

The water regulator is toothless because it was deliberately set up by the government to only be able to regulate what the water companies do, not how they are owned, run, and financed. As a result, they became ideal vehicles for what is a form of legalised money laundering and theft.

It’s pretty much the biggest scandal of
privatisation and no one has a plan to fix it. Meanwhile, sewage is dumped in our rivers, roads are destroyed by mains leaks, and reservoirs run dry.

I don't think anyone blames individual staff for the problems that occur, but senior management and (especially) directors who prefer to take bonuses and pay dividends rather than invest in infrastructure, and their private equity paymasters.

I'm old, so I can remember the days when we had nationalised water companies, including some tiny ones like Croydon and East Surrey. Croydon covered a tiny area (I don't even think it was the whole borough) and had a team of 22 inspectors who went around the borough checking for leaks, fixing any that were their responsibility and reporting those on private property. People who had dripping taps or other leaks in their properties would get a letter notifying them and asking them to fix it, and if they repeatedly ignored them, they were eventually threatened with prosecution. Does work like that still go on? I've never heard of anyone being notified of a leak on their property since privatisation.

That's appalling. I hope they get a huge fine and that the directors have to forego dividends for years.

Totally sat here wondering if the other water industry workers posting are actually my colleagues ha!

I’m south west water too and also thought we were the most expensive and last year’s increase was 30%.

I don’t think that of you.
I do however think that of the fat cats etc who get paid a princely salary and then take a bonus on top for a piss poor service are bang out of order.
I’m in the south east and SE water seems to be my new BFF with all the messages they keep sending me (re leaks here, there and everywhere). Pretty much daily at the moment.
They should lower their bloody salaries and bonuses etc and start to bloody invest in the failing infrastructure!
Housing estates are popping up everywhere and everyone is supposed to be drinking from the same cup. It’s madness!
Someone on my local radio show this morning, said that the Kent based reservoirs were full and yet there are countless homes in that county that are still without water, days after the initial problem!
The government needs to stop demanding counties build houses until they can bloody address the lack of supply and infrastructure with the water companies!

We've been told not to wear our lanyards off-site even if just popping out to grab a sandwich, because of the risk of us getting abused, so yes, lots of people do blame the lowly water company workers.

It's widely known that Thames water are the worst performing company, they are bottom of every league table.

They absolutely do. Whenever I tell anyone where I work they literally scowl at me and say "oh, them lot that chuck shit in the river".

Well no, I don't personally drive a truck of shit to the river and dump it in, no. You'd think we shat on their front lawns the way they look and speak to us sometimes!

If the cretins could understand what I actually do and I how I keep them and their family safe everyday by making sure they have clean water to drink maybe they wouldn't treat me like that, but they clearly don't know that.

That investment is happening though as I posted up thread.

My favourite fact to tell people is that actually MORE money is invested since privatisation than when it was nationalised.

Here are some great myths debunked. I urge everyone on this thread who thinks nothing is being done to read it.

UK Water Industry: Myths vs. Facts | Water UK https://share.google/AxkrFm3dYhbHPNro3

Yes, there a whole teams dedicated to that, very large ones. The innovation being done year on year to invent new ways to locate leaks is incredible! Drones are used to follow underground pipes and find leaks in some pioneering areas at the moment. Hopefully it takes off.

Believe it or not our company has leakage dogs. They detect leaks it’s amazing!

That's clever!

Do the dogs do it by listening for leaking water or what?

If only there was a way to improve/repair reservoirs, oh there was last year when they were all empty. They'd rather repair than prevent issues so their shareholders and bosses can rake in gigantic bonuses. The way they operate is shameful.

always I saw those clever dogs on the local news!

lak they're trained to smell for waste water;
"The dogs rapidly screen large areas of the network and detect even very low concentrations of contamination.
The dogs support both reactive investigations (known issues) and proactive work, helping assess the health of surface water systems and identify previously unknown sources of pollution.
They highlight areas of concern, enabling targeted follow-up investigations. This allows us to trace how contaminants have entered the network and act quickly."