| Living in a third world country? 16:53 - Dec 5 with 1281 views | DJR |
24,000 homes in the Tunbridge Wells area were without water for four or five days.
Losing water supply in that area has happened recently on quite a few occasions. I understand that part of the problem is that South East Water hasn't upgraded the network to cope with new housing and the like.
I believe much of the supply has now been restored but in the meantime this is the advice on their website.
"Your water is chemically safe, but a potential fault in the final disinfection process means you must boil it (and let it cool) before drinking.
Effective from midday on Wednesday 3 December 2025, once your tap water has returned:
Please boil all tap water (and let it cool) before drinking, eating and cooking with, alternatively you can use bottled water.
Please boil all tap water (and let it cool) before using it to brush teeth, wash dishes and wipe down kitchen sides.
This notice remains in place until further notice". [which I believe is about 10 days]
Fortunately, I live in a different area so am not affected, but it has had an impact on shops, schools and the like in the area. For example, an eye appointment I was due to have on Wednesday was cancelled.
What an appalling experiment privatisation of the water supply has been., given the news yesterday that Thames Water isn't far off collapse.
Harold MacMillan was right when he warned Mrs Thatcher about selling off the family silver. [Post edited 5 Dec 16:56]
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| Living in a third world country? on 08:33 - Dec 6 with 128 views | mellowblue |
| Living in a third world country? on 18:11 - Dec 5 by tommcd |
I'm happy to be 'educated' on this, I don't claim to know a huge amount about it, I was still at Primary School when the Water Companies were privatised so I can't say I paid it much attention at the time...
The Water Companies themselves come in a for a lot of criticism, it's clear that over a period of decades they prioritised paying shareholder dividends and haven't invested anywhere near enough in maintaining / upgrading infrastructure.
But wasn't / isn't it supposed to be the role of the Regulator to enforce a framework of regulation that prevents the Water Companies from being able to do that? Is it the case that such a prolonged period of weak / ineffectual Regulation has now left the industry in a state where it's too far gone to Regulate back into shape?
It seems foolish to expect Private Business to behave responsibly, so presumably the Regulator is there to make sure that they do. Over the years the Private Companies have behaved just as you'd expect, and the Regulator has not stopped them, seems like the Regulator (and via inference; successive governments of all colours) is as much to blame (probably more so) than Private Business for the current state of the industry. Maybe that's the essence of the oft cited 'failed experiment of privatisation'? [Post edited 5 Dec 18:12]
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I don't suppose the regulator had any teeth. Do we ever hear of any multi-million fines being issued by any of the regulators? The initial idea of privatisation made some sense at the time, giving ownership to the little person and the pension funds etc. At least howch how it was sold to the commons and the public at the time, also by undervaluing it so there was a small profit built in. What was not thought about was that all those small holdings might get hoovered up leaving our utilities in foreign control. That is where it went wrong. Government was led by altruistic pure economic principles which never took into account rapacious greed. All ecinomic models are heavily flawed in this respect. Does not deal with human flaws. Bearing in mind it is national infrastructure, it should never have been wholly privatised, an element of control needed to be kept. |  | | |
| Living in a third world country? on 08:33 - Dec 6 with 129 views | noggin |
| Living in a third world country? on 22:08 - Dec 5 by gtsb1966 |
"YET". .... thousands of men come here on a boat and have access to everything they've never contributed too whilst dealing on our streets ,pimping etc .East European spies , pickpockets and dealers, men, women and children praying on our towns whilst British kids suffer from child poverty. It's not yet it's NOW. |
British kids are living in poverty, despite immigration, not because of it. You might be better off directing your anger at the British education system, which has clearly failed you. |  |
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| Living in a third world country? on 08:52 - Dec 6 with 92 views | EdwardStone |
There is a very unpleasant problem that becomes increasingly unsavoury after more than a cuppla days without water supply....
The smelly "triple cheeseburger" of the unflushed lavvy
I sincerely hope that South East water are providing suitable flushing service/ non-potable supply so households can a least chuck a bucketful down each day. But I doubt it.
In other news..... Dave Hinton struggles to get by on a remuneration package of just under a half million per year. His base salary is a meagre £ 280 000 and the remainder is made up of performance and various other bonuses.
Dave Hinton is CEO of South East Water |  | | |
| Living in a third world country? on 09:11 - Dec 6 with 57 views | EdwardStone |
| Living in a third world country? on 22:08 - Dec 5 by gtsb1966 |
"YET". .... thousands of men come here on a boat and have access to everything they've never contributed too whilst dealing on our streets ,pimping etc .East European spies , pickpockets and dealers, men, women and children praying on our towns whilst British kids suffer from child poverty. It's not yet it's NOW. |
Ruddy Hell buh
Are you really trying to convince me that all of our ills are the result of asylum seekers?
The problems in this country are complex and have been developing over many decades, flatline productivity, underinvestment in industry, myopic and useless politicians and a financial system that has shafted all but the super-wealthy
It is really really not the fault of refugees coming here for safety
You wanna pack in drinking the Nigel flavoured Kool Aid..... it seems to have scrambled your brain
And turned your heart to flint | | | |
| Living in a third world country? on 09:51 - Dec 6 with 21 views | DJR |
| Living in a third world country? on 08:33 - Dec 6 by mellowblue |
I don't suppose the regulator had any teeth. Do we ever hear of any multi-million fines being issued by any of the regulators? The initial idea of privatisation made some sense at the time, giving ownership to the little person and the pension funds etc. At least howch how it was sold to the commons and the public at the time, also by undervaluing it so there was a small profit built in. What was not thought about was that all those small holdings might get hoovered up leaving our utilities in foreign control. That is where it went wrong. Government was led by altruistic pure economic principles which never took into account rapacious greed. All ecinomic models are heavily flawed in this respect. Does not deal with human flaws. Bearing in mind it is national infrastructure, it should never have been wholly privatised, an element of control needed to be kept. |
One thing that was at the heart of the nationalised industries was future planning.
But that costs money and is the reason why very until recently there were no new reservoirs planned since water privatisation. | | | |
| Living in a third world country? on 09:57 - Dec 6 with 18 views | vapour_trail |
| Living in a third world country? on 22:08 - Dec 5 by gtsb1966 |
"YET". .... thousands of men come here on a boat and have access to everything they've never contributed too whilst dealing on our streets ,pimping etc .East European spies , pickpockets and dealers, men, women and children praying on our towns whilst British kids suffer from child poverty. It's not yet it's NOW. |
You’re blaming under investment in water infrastructure on the guys arriving on these shores a few decades after water was privatised.
Well done mate. What an embarrassment. |  |
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| Living in a third world country? on 10:12 - Dec 6 with 1 views | DJR |
One thing that hasn't been mentioned in connection with privatisation is the reliance on sub-contractors because the companies involved have got rid of their own staff to cut costs.
From my experience, t is clear that sub-contractors don't carry out work to the same standard as would once have been the case. And there don't seem to be any sanctions in place to make them do it better. | | | |
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