It seems amazing to me that this country is actually being affected by a water shortage. Britain - the country of endless grey skies and a 9 month winter - actually had its driest winter in nearly 30 years. Hosepipe bans are in place now and are likely to spread further afield as the summer progresses.
Typically, the South East and London areas are the worst hit, and Ken Livingstone has requested that Londoners don't flush the loo "just for a pee". I quite agree! I mean, how many of us flush the loo - all that full tank full of water - just to get rid of less than a pint of piss??? FFS leave it there until it's time for a number 2, then flush it, won't do any harm and the combined effort of people doing this would save millions of litres daily. Naturally if you're a guest in a house or have guests, then yes I guess you have to flush, nobody wants to stare at other people's pee-pee. And unfortunately all the huge motorway service stations and public toilets are perpetually flushing.
But why hasn't more been done to introduce economical flushing toilets, specially in the public buildings and service stations? Australia has the good old "two button" loos, a short flush for pees and a long flush for poos. Great idea, why aren't we following suit? What about the old vacuum toilets that suck your poops away with the minimum of water?
Would be interesting to hear how Prescott would cope with his "let's build a billion more houses near London" plan - where the f*ck will the water come from to cope with all those new loos? These days everyone wants en-suites and all new houses have at least 3 toilets. Nobody seems to be regulating the building companies and saying "hey, you HAVE to fit ecoflush loos or we'll fine your arses big time".
Last week, Thames Water was criticised by Ofwat, the water regulator, for failing to meet its target for tackling leaks. It loses 915 million litres of water a day from old and crumbling pipes but says it has an extensive programme of pipe replacement. Hmmm must be going well the huh guys? Replacing water pipes is probably like painting the Sydney Harbour bridge - never-ending task. But who came up with that huge figure and how on earth can they measure and accurately state that leakage figure though???
Not sure why I wanted to whinge about this today, guess I just wanted to "talk shit" hur hur hur ....
1 comment:
I'm sure that it's the same reason why the wrong sort of leaves stop trains running or why there are always temporary road works with no workmen.. It isn't fixed until it's a crisis.. I imagine we will have to wait until we all have to use community toilets before something is really sorted out.
On a side note, I don't like leaving a no1 without flushing.. the stench of urea isn't particulary pleasant. Perhaps thats because I tend to bump into people (whilst policing!) who like releaving themselves in the street where a toilet is not available and am therefore inclined to ensure that I keep my affairs in a high state of cleanliness. Lets stop the gardeners wasting water, stop the leaks, increase awareness and supply before rationing water for no1s & 2s...
I can imagine the worst case senario now... (travelling back in time) the long and lonely walk to the outdoor privey..
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