[–] Neocorporation@lemmy.world 6 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

It's literally the same story every year. Water companies complain of droughts during the hot months, proceed to not do anything during the winter months. Since I was a kid, I can remember the same headlines of droughts during the summers of 2000s etc. What does the controlled government do? Absolutely nothing... Complete fraud and corruption for many decades.

[–] tal@lemmy.today 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

IIRC, some substantial construction on new reservoirs did happen recently, after a long---heh---drought.

goes looking

https://premierconstructionnews.com/2026/03/04/holcim-uk-awarded-supply-contract-for-uks-first-reservoir-in-over-30-years/

Holcim UK Awarded Supply Contract for UK’s First Reservoir in Over 30 Years

Holcim UK is delighted to announce its appointment by Future Water MJJV Ltd to supply essential materials for the construction of the UK’s first reservoir in over 30 years – Portsmouth Waters’ Havant Thicket reservoir. The reservoir is an environmentally-led project that will help to safeguard internationally rare chalk rivers in Hampshire by providing an alternative, sustainable source of water.

The reservoir, which is being delivered by Future Water MJJV Ltd, a joint venture between Jones Bros Civil Engineering UK and JT Mackley & Co Ltd, is expected to be completed by the early 2030s. It is estimated to take approximately three years to fill and will have the capacity to hold up to 8.7 billion litres of water, playing a crucial role in enhancing water security for the region.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-steps-in-to-build-first-major-reservoirs-in-30-years

Government steps in to build first major reservoirs in 30 years

New reservoirs will supply three quarters of a million homes and unlock the building of tens of thousands more as part of the Plan for Change

[–] Neocorporation@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

I acknowledge this year a new reservoir is being built but the first in 30years completely proves my point no?

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 4 points 12 hours ago

Isn't that illegal? If not, it should be.

[–] boaratio@lemmy.world 5 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Ahh, enshittification finally comes to water.

[–] Arola@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

TBF, all our rivers brown lumps in them, so the enshitification is nothing new. I stopped paying my water bill in December - I am in a fortunate position to not give a fuck about the consequences but I really wish there was more of a French-style reaction to getting bummed by our political leaders in the UK.

[–] boaratio@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

Ahh, the great stink. Legendary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Stink

[–] ximtor@lemmy.zip 1 points 10 hours ago

I want to know more about this situaton of not giving a fuck about paying bills

[–] tal@lemmy.today 1 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

I'm kind of curious how it compares to some of the cities here in the US.

Thames Water, London, UK

https://www.thameswater.co.uk/help/account-and-billing/understand-your-bill/metered-customers

We’ll send you a bill every six months. Your bill will show charges for every cubic metre (m3) of water used.

One cubic metre equals 1,000 litres which is an estimated 25 quick showers. It costs £2.7346 per m3 for clean water and £1.4721 per m3 for wastewater as of 1 April 2026.

Fixed charges for 2026-27

Once we’ve calculated your clean water and wastewater charges, we'll add fixed charges. These cover our essential costs, such as pipe maintenance and bill and payment processing.

Type Fixed charge Fixed charge with surface water drainage rebate

Water £66.87 Not applicable

Wastewater £128.13 £80.43

Type	Fixed charge	Fixed charge with surface water drainage rebate
Water	£66.87	Not applicable
Wastewater	£128.13	£80.43

San Diego, California: a city located in a semi-arid region which depends partly on desalinated water.

https://www.sandiego.gov/public-utilities/customer-support/water-billing-rates

Each HCF equals 748.05 gallons.

The monthly charges for a typical single-family domestic customer are:

Base fee: $35.53
0 - 10 HCF used are billed at $8.51 per HCF.
11 - 22 HCF used are billed at $9.50 per HCF.
Each HCF used after the initial 22 HCF is billed at $11.89 per HCF.

https://www.sandiego.gov/public-utilities/customer-support/sewer-billing-rates

Single-Family Residential Customer

Base Sewer Fee for Two Months $22.56
Sewer (rate per HCF**) $5.92

Maximum Fee: Base + Sewer (fee capped at 20 HCF/month) $259.36

New Orleans, Lousiana: a city located at the mouth of the Mississippi, as London is located at the mouth of the Thames:

https://www.swbno.org/CustomerService/RatesFeesAndCharges

These guys charge a fixed fee based on the size of the meter. It looks like residential meters normally are either 5/8 inch, 3/4 inch, or 1 inch.

Water monthly fixed fee:

Meter Size	Rate ($)
5/8	8.69
3/4	10.64
1	13.50

Water usage fee:

Usage level	Rate per 1,000 gallons ($)
First 3,000 gallons	5.80
Next 17,000 gallons	9.87
Next 980,000 gallons	7.76
Over 1,000,000 gallons	6.50

Sewage monthly fixed fee:

Meter Size	Rate ($)
5/8	24.87
3/4	35.40
1	50.38

Sewage usage fee:

Per 1,000 Gallons: 8.66

At a current currency conversion rate of $1.3565 for £1, and with a cubic meter being 0.35314667 HCF and 0.26417205 thousand-gallons:

Six month residential water cost:

Source	Fixed Six-month Water Fee (£)	Per cubic meter (£)
Thames Water	66.87	2.73
City of San Diego (starting rate)	78.58	2.22
City of San Diego (maximum rate)	78.58	3.10
City of New Orleans (lowest rate)	38.43	1.23
City of New Orleans (maximum rate)	59.71	1.27

Six month residential wastewater cost

(for Thames Water, taking into account the rebate, and for San Diego, disregarding the limit that may be charged a customer):

Source	Fixed Six-month Wastewater Fee (£)	Per cubic meter(£)
Thames Water	80.43	1.47
City of San Diego	49.89	1.54
City of New Orleans (minimum rate)	110.00	1.69
City of New Orleans (maximum rate)	222.83	1.69

So, looking at that, a few things stand out. First, London is an old city, and I'd vaguely imagine has a lot of elderly sewers and such that might cost a lot to maintain. Going into this, I had guessed that infrastructure was maybe where any major Thames Water cost was coming from. But actually, the fixed sewage costs aren't that much higher than San Diego (a relatively-young city), and are considerably lower than New Orleans' fixed sewage costs. So unless, for some reason, the customer fee structure doesn't reflect the cost structure for one or more of the organizations, that kills that theory.

And the Thames Water per-usage sewer rates are lower than the rates in both American cities.

Fixed water rates are in-between New Orleans and San Diego. I'd expect that some of San Diego's fixed costs need to go to things like the San Diego Aqueduct system, to bring water from the closest sources of surface water, which isn't something that'd be needed in London. But I'd also imagine that London has its own complexities, like older infrastructure.

The per-unit water usage rates for Thames Water, on the other hand, are relatively high

towards the upper end of San Diego's per-unit usage rates, and as I said, San Diego relies in part on desalinated water, which should be more-expensive as a source than surface water (and which London could certainly hypothetically avail itself of). Thames Water per-unit water rates are also much higher than those in New Orleans. It does seem to me that there's plausibly a way to get per-usage rates down for Thames Water.

[–] NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net 5 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Just in time for the data centers to double our national consumption

[–] tenebrisnox@feddit.uk 8 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

You can see why they're making a lot about water scarcity in the media now.

It's about time we should start pushing back and saying that some things are a basic human right like air, water, food and energy (certainly at a subsistence level) which should be provided without cost.

[–] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 4 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

I do like the idea of first x number of units are free to all. So essentially that means drinking water at home is free

[–] Eh_I@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago

No no no, the free water is for the data centers. We get the expensive water with stuff floating in it, along with a high-usage fee for using the water while we're at home in the evenings when the data centers need it most.

Was any of the water hot, or heated at any point? Tsk tsk tsk, that's a hot water fee.

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 1 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

Making all domestic usage free sounds great but we do have to encourage reasonable water use. (And energy use.)

Getting rid of the standing charge is an important first step IMO. At the moment it effectively means people with low water usage are subsidising those who use lots of water.

I'd like to see pricing that gets more expensive the more you use. So if you only use what you need for your particular household, you pay a very low price per unit, if not entirely free, and the price per unit keeps increasing the more a household uses per person.

[–] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 3 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I didn't say all usage free, I said first x units. So that could be first 20 litres a day or what ever.

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 1 points 8 hours ago

yes sorry, I didn't mean to say you did. I was just saying that a practical solution could be to make water and energy cost more the more of it you use. Right now, there is a tendency for the opposite to happen, mainly for companies, where they are offered better prices per unit the more they use.

I also know people who are somewhat cavalier with their own water and energy use, while others who are less well off are scrimping and saving in order to keep bills low. It seems fine to me that the former are charged double per unit (say). It subsidises the usage of less well-off people and at the same time encourages people to be more economical.

[–] tenebrisnox@feddit.uk 1 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

Why "reasonable"? We live on an island surrounded by water on a planet that is two-thirds water. If you want to make water a commodity to make profit then you have to intstil the idea that there's scarcity of water.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we should turn taps on and let them flow but we shouldn't be charging people for a basic element of human life. At this point in human civilisation we should be working towards ensuring everyone on the planet has a subsistence level of clean air, clean water, energy and food (and, I'd argue, a roof over their head). Not price it "reasonably" so that if by luck of birth you can afford it you can fill the three olympic-sized swimming pools in your back garden while the poor old pensioner on state benefits has to worry about having a shower once a week or not using a heater in winter to make ends meet. I don't understand why people fret over the idea things should be universally available with no costs at point of use. Always strikes me as being entitled and selfish.

[–] tal@lemmy.today 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

We live on an island surrounded by water on a planet that is two-thirds water. If you want to make water a commodity to make profit then you have to intstil the idea that there's scarcity of water.

So, I agree that there is plenty of water available to the UK. But...you can't just wave away distribution and processing costs, either. Those are real. And it's in those services that there is scarcity, that there is cost to building out capacity.

Most people are after freshwater rather than saltwater, so you've either got to desalinate saltwater or draw from freshwater.

And most people care about the location of their water. Like, they want to turn the knob on their tap and have it come out there, not have a bunch of water at the beach.

If you want to go to the beach, you can collect all the saltwater you want, without restriction. And if you transport it home and want to desalinate it, you can run a small electric still yourself (not the most cost-effective way to desalinate at scale, but just to demonstrate that it's possible at an individual level). More or less, just an electric kettle plus a condenser. They're on Amazon in the US, and I expect also the UK. Your distilled water will be purer than what comes out of the tap from the water company.

But...the associated costs and hassle make buying water services to do distribution and processing preferable for most.

[–] tenebrisnox@feddit.uk 1 points 7 hours ago

Without access to the actua or estimated costs at scale of providing free water, I can't tell you whether the distribution and processing costs cause scarcity. As I replied to someone else, there's no issue of scarcity when it comes to buying and upgrading weapons of mass destruction which cost £billions. I'd rather taxpayers' money spent on free water and energy rather than a bomb that sits in a silo never being used.

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Why “reasonable”?

Because we live in the real world unfortunately, so compromises are necessary if you want sustainable long-term solutions. Regarding water, desalination has come a long way in the last few years, but extracting drinkable water from the sea is still very energy intensive and it still makes far more sense to collect rain and spring water.

You also mentioned food and energy, and right now these things take human labour to produce and deliver, which ultimately means you're going to have to pay those workers. The government's supply of money is limited, and it would not be cheap to nationalise water companies, farms, supermarkets and energy companies in order to allow domestic users free access to those resources.

[–] tenebrisnox@feddit.uk 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Oh, one of those "real world" arguments where it's ok for example to spend crazy billions on weapons (especially those of mass destruction) that will fingers crossed never be used but in the "real world" decent water, food, energy is far too much to provide. It's a question of priorities. Next you'll be telling me that in the "real world" an NHS is not possible.

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 0 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

mmm yeah the messy real world in which we live, the one that has no built-in justice or fairness, in fact the only unchanging law is that the strong have dominion over the weak. That real world, yes. It seems you are acquainted with it.

We are not masters of it. We are very much at its mercy just like all the other creatures on the planet. Care and thoughtfulness is needed when attempting to design and implement public systems that deliver justice and fairness and are sustainable over the long-term.

[–] tenebrisnox@feddit.uk 1 points 4 hours ago

Care and thoughtfulness

Who is it that you think is providing "justice and fairness"? Our capitalist masters or their client politicians or media? O, to live in such a world where the ruling classes care for us poor people at their mercy.

[–] wiccan2@thelemmy.club 74 points 1 day ago (2 children)

All water companies should be nationalised immediately, water is not a product.

What are we supposed to do when the water companies don't put any investment into improving the situation. Constant leaks, a steady flow of new houses being built but no increase in our capacity to store water.

What choice will we have under these rules when the companues charging us are able to manufacture scarcity through their inaction.

[–] omgboom@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago

That's a problem for Q2 2027

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 10 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Every necessity of life, including economic and educational necessities like transport and data, should be publicly owned and provided free or as cheaply as practicable. Anything else is a one-way ticket to absurdity.

[–] tenebrisnox@feddit.uk 4 points 8 hours ago

100%. We need to push back on the idea that everything should be commidified and sold at a profit for a tiny minority of the already-rich.

[–] waz@feddit.uk 25 points 1 day ago

What about surge discounts during leaks?

[–] Flamekebab@piefed.social 1 points 16 hours ago

Could we perhaps explore more reservoirs? There's loads of urban decay that could be replaced with water storage.

[–] Admetus@sopuli.xyz 13 points 1 day ago

Data centres getting surge pricing ja?

[–] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Wouldn't mind if we got cheaper non surge rates tbh. Looking at my garden or allotment and hosepipe bans I was thinking what if I was to store up water in an IBC tank before a drought.

So far I haven't really done anything to reduce water usage, it just doesn't seem worth the cost. Underground rainwater tank, even if I dig the hole for it myself, would require filling and emptying 1000s of times to pay for its self compared to just using a hose pipe. Or if there is a pipe ban, filling a wheelbarrow a few times.

Garden came with water butts so I do use those. But looking at how little they hold for their price I can't see how it is worth it. Even the large ones hold less than £1 worth of water. Plus a house uses as that much water each day normally anyway?

Grey water collection could be interesting. I have loads of grey water waste during drought that could potentially be useful. Can that safely be dumped straight onto the garden though? Most things I find suggest not to, shame as it would be fairly easy. Even just plonk a gutter under the pipe exist points from the house and direct it to the garden.

[–] Buckshot@programming.dev 1 points 19 hours ago

We got our water butts free on local Facebook groups or marketplace. You're right though, they don't store a lot. Our outside tap is somehow unmetered so i mostly use that anyway. The water butts ran out weeks ago. No hosepipe bans here (north west).

[–] Denjin@feddit.uk 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Can that safely be dumped straight onto the garden though?

As long as you're not using antibacterial agents, bleach or things with parabens and phosphate you'll mostly be fine.

Its pretty minor to switch to "biodegradable" soaps if you don't use them already and then you can just dump your bathwater straight onto the garden no problem.

[–] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 0 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I had always heard you shouldn't eat stuff watered with grey water

[–] Denjin@feddit.uk 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Looked at a few sites talking about using bathwater on the garden and as long as you're watering the roots and not edible leaves directly it's perfectly fine. You also want to use the water immediately rather than storing it.

https://gardeningbeyond.com/can-i-water-my-garden-with-bath-water/

https://gardenadvice.co.uk/gardening-tips/bath-water-for-watering-my-garden-plants-and-vegetables/

[–] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 2 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Ahh right, that makes sense. For my garden it would be bay, sage and rosemary.

Immediate use could actually be achieved by piping it straight to the grass next to the garden beds and let the roots get it through the soil. Probably through a filter somewhere along the line.

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 2 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

I also looked at this recently as I thought that soap would be harmful to plants and/or microbes and the Royal Horticultural Society has done some investigation of their own into the use of greywater, and their advice is "plants can be watered with shower, bath, kitchen and washing machine water (from rinse cycles)", finding that "soil and potting composts are effective at filtering out" the soap/detergent.

I'm just echoing @Denjin@feddit.uk with the RHS link, and I didn't read the articles he linked but it wouldn't surprise me if the RHS guidance is the source of those.

[–] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 1 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I wonder if I would need a pump or could connect a tube directly to the bathroom tap/shower outlet at the side of my house. It is only elevated slightly above the ground, it looks like the path is flat but there could be a slight gradient either way that I am unaware of. Kitchen outlet for the washing machine and kitchen sink is a bit higher. But I think the bathroom water is a cleaner source.

Either way its something to look into trying. Pipe probably doesn't cost much to experiment with and can be removed when not needed. Worst thing that would happen is the shower fills up and you notice that pretty quickly, then just take it off.

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

pumps are cheap enough but they probably increase the chance of blockage due to hair and so on. if you could get it using just gravity it would prob be better from a minimum maintenance viewpoint.

[–] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 1 points 10 hours ago

Yeah gravity would be less maintenance, just a tube at that point.

You can get pumps designed to go under the shower by the look of it but then you need to power it. Otherwise DIY options, might be some battery powered pumps that could work. Thought sump pumps perhaps but apparently those are rated for many many thousands of litres an hour. Maybe if I can find something smaller than that...

[–] Denjin@feddit.uk 1 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

First linked site recommends a filter to grab hair and any solid bits of dirt or soap etc. I plan on adding an irrigation system for the future in my garden (mostly fruiting plants in the summer and brassicas over winter) that would be fed first from bath water, then water butts, then tap depending on what's available.

Given how likely it seems that we'll see significant shortages of water within the next few years, rainwater storage seems like a decent idea to me, £3000 for 5000 litres doesn't make sense in pure financial terms but if it means that or not having any water at all, it seems like a pretty small price to pay.

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 1 points 15 hours ago

I also looked at this recently as I thought that soap would be harmful to plants and/or microbes and the Royal Horticultural Society has done some investigation of their own into the use of greywater, and their advice is "plants can be watered with shower, bath, kitchen and washing machine water (from rinse cycles)", finding that "soil and potting composts are effective at filtering out" the soap/detergent.

I'm just echoing what @Denjin@feddit.uk with the RHS link, and I didn't read the articles he linked but it wouldn't surprise me if the RHS guidance is the source of those.

[–] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Shortages to the point of restrictions though surely, rather than having no water left at all. Where I live hasn't even had hosepipe bans yet, and we are getting a new reservoir soon.

If I was planning for no water at all I would look at getting a hand pumped RO filter for filtering sea water. I could distill it but that takes far more energy. Have wondered about the RO filter anyway for cooking by the beach but there are usually public taps close enough. Would allow going to more remote parts of the beach though.

[–] Denjin@feddit.uk 0 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

We've had one of the top 10 wettest winters on record and reservoirs in my region are down to about 50%, and there's no new reservoir construction or expansion even in the planning phase.

I don't think it's a huge leap to think about the possibility of reservoirs running dry if we have a couple more dry summers and follow that with even an average winter supplies could be dangerously low.

[–] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 1 points 15 hours ago

Suppose it also depends on how much water do you want if it was to run out. If you can afford it then continue as normal with a few £1000 spent on a tank could be OK.

Worst case is enough to drink and wash your hands, and pretty sure they would be distributing water you can collect if it was to get that low.

[–] Denjin@feddit.uk 4 points 1 day ago

Anything to keep the gravy train rolling.

[–] Cherry@piefed.social 3 points 1 day ago

The f they will.

United Kingdom

Six month residential water cost:

Six month residential wastewater cost