A trades unions today described water monopoly Thames Water as “woeful”, as the debt-laden company imposed a hosepipe ban on more than 10million households across London and south-east England.
Turned off: the hosepipe ban begins on Thursday
The GMB Union points to Thames Water’s annual report, which admits to losing millions of gallons of water a day due to leaks. If the leaks were properly fixed, it is unlikely there would be any need for the hosepipe ban.
Thames Water’s own figures say it is losing around 125million gallons (570.4million litres) per day – enough to fill more than 220 Olympic swimming pools every day.
Cliff Roney is a retired water worker and GMB member and was contributor to Channel 4’s Dirty Business. He said: “Once again, Thames Water’s fed-up customers are the ones paying the price for this company’s woeful mismanagement.
“If Thames Water put as much effort into fixing leaks as they did into lining their senior managers’ pockets, this ban wouldn’t be necessary.
“It’s not unreasonable for customers paying hundreds of pounds a year to expect to be able to water their garden or let their children enjoy a paddling pool.
“The only way to give customers the service they deserve and protect water workers from a failing employer is to bring it back under public ownership.”
The hosepipe ban will do nothing for Thames Water’s customer satisfaction ratings, after a 77% increase in complaints last year.
Thames – which has never built a new reservoir in its service areas since it was privatised in the 1980s – blames the “exceptionally warm and dry spring”.
From Thursday, July 23, hosepipes should not be used for watering gardens or allotments, cleaning cars, filling paddling pools or swimming pools or cleaning windows.
The water company says its region had seen 40% of average rainfall, and more days at or above 34C this year than ever recorded before.
Nevil Muncaster, director of strategic water resources, said: “We would not be taking this step unless it was necessary to protect water supplies for everyone and the environment.”
As well as Greater London, including most of Croydon, the company provides water to across parts of Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Surrey and the Thames Valley, Greater London. It provides water and wastewater services to 16million customers overall.
It said water use was currently 10% above normal in the Thames Valley and Home Counties and 7% above normal in London, which amounted to an extra 100million litres of water every day.
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