Tuesday 13 March 2012

Higher water bills

Richard North, EU Referendum, posts on the threat that, according to the Telegraph, a water tariff that rises as householders use more may have to be imposed to discourage them using up Britain's dwindling supplies.

Probably little known by the British public is that water, per se, is an EU competence and one which they laid down their marker with the "Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for the Community action in the field of water policy", back in December 2000.


Courtesy of The Albion Alliance Presents, which provides raw information from the EU as it is issued, comes notice of a report (opens in Adobe Reader) produced by the European Environment Agency (EEA). Bearing in mind this report, referring to the Directive linked to above and which is more commonly known as the Water Framework Directive, in the Foreward states that it should be more widely applied and developed, can only suggest that another directive will be forthcoming in the near future.


As Richard North notes, has not the increased population brought about the increased need for water? Yet another 'not thought through policy' by our political elite when opening the doors to unlimited immigration. Mind you, this is but another example whereby we, the public, once again pay for the mistakes made by our political elite - who, in our wisdom, we re-elect year after year; but again I digress. The Telegraph report to which Richard North links includes the words: "....better management of household usage...." which sounds to me more like politic-speak for the fluid equivalent of power cuts. I would hazard a guess that the report by Michael Norton, referred to in the Telegraph article, will be no more than a rewording of the EEA report.


Still, none of my fears can come to pass, can they - after all, we are assured by our political elite that they govern our country; but, to quote Ronald Reagan, there I go again - digressing........

5 comments:

TomTom said...

Since the North of England has abundant water and it is only The South that has a shortage, it is time for the Council of the North to emerge and separate. Most large power stations are also in the North...

WitteringsfromWitney said...

TT I can see where you are going with this comment.........

If we have an electricity 'grid', why no 'water' grid?

TomTom said...

The National Grid was built by a Labour Government in 1948 when it set up the CEGB......it was cheaper than burying cables underground.

Water piping would be simply too costly.

Where I was going was to say the country should split and Confederate. The viability of Southern England is doubtful in view of overpopulation and water shortage. They could never afford piped water - rationing is the only option

WitteringsfromWitney said...

TT: C'mon, you can do better than that!

Accept your point about the CEGB, but...

Piped water may be costly now - but it wouldn't have been had a little thought been applied to the problem yonks ago - drought is a new problem?

Is water usuage/requirement not dependent on the population numbers? Has our population not increased through immigration and the relaxation of the controls on that? Yet another example of one policy (not thought through) causing another problem?

And what is our country surrounded by? Desalination? (spelling?) The cure to the problem of drought cannot be that difficult, surely?

Have another go?

TomTom said...

If you have cheap oil to burn or cheap gas you can desalinate as in Saudi Arabia.

There is no drought in Northern England - quite the opposite. Traditionally human beings moved to be near water - silly to forget it.

Have you seen the price of pipelines - I once priced one to move from Russia - it would make H2S look cheap and the inhabitants of Gt Missenden placid in comparison

Better to ration and ban swimming pools and dishwashers in the Southeast