Soldato
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Sorry but I don't know anyone that rinses a glass before filling it. I think worst offenders are people that bath instead of shower. That must be 50-60l every time.
water surge pricing
- Thread starter Tram
- Start date
Loads of people do it, ask someone for a glass of water it’s hilarious! The bath v’s shower thing depends on lots of things like how often you do it, a couple of baths a week is better than a couple of showers a day. A lot of modern showers also use more water than you think and most people are terrible at estimating how long they are actually in the shower for. You can save loads of water (and energy) by going for a military shower ie get in and soak yourself, turn the shower off and soap and shampoo, then turn the shower back on to rinse down.
It was intended as an illustration of the many frivolous unthinking ways we use water which being metered would reduce.
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Only about 60% of households in the UK have a water meter and you can bet it’s the higher users that resist having one the most!
Totally agree the water industry needs epic reform, it should never have been privatised as they have effectively been massively loaded with debt to pay shareholder dividends knowing that the government can’t allow them to fail. Our current model has failed it is time for a massive overhaul but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be educating people and reducing water usage!
One of my very first posts in this thread said the water companies should be providing every household in the UK that can have one a water but or two out of their bonkers profits it would be a dividend for the people.Nope, and frankly, you're being silly here - detergents absolutely can damage plants, and there are further issues with edible plants too - the advice is to use it from rinse cycles on a washing machine. I doubt bleach poured down a sink is going to do much good...
what is grey water: expert RHS advice on using grey water in gardens / RHS
Recycled or 'grey' water should be used with care, but can be useful in times of water shortageswww.rhs.org.uk
Or you could just use a water butt like I pointed out in the first place!
I don't have an issue in principle with metering, I do think the lack of infrastructure is dumb though, not building a major reservoir for thirty years, for example, while the population has grown significantly in that time is an entirely self-inflicted problem.
Water runs a bit warm from our cold tap in summer unless we run it for a bit.
Does for most people, really we should all put a jug in the fridge for the warmer months rather than run the tap until it goes cold every time, which you can bet people would do more if they were paying for the bit that went down the drain.
Soldato
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- 14 Jul 2005
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- Birmingham
I have lead pipes (as do many older properties). You're advised to run the tap a few seconds before using to clear any dissolved lead.
But yeah I also do the rinse the clean glass thing. I think it's because a glass sitting in a cupboard can get a bit of dust.
But yeah I also do the rinse the clean glass thing. I think it's because a glass sitting in a cupboard can get a bit of dust.
Maybe, but you are talking pence here, in my experience people dont change behavior to save a few p. As for water butts, they are fine as said when it rains, mine were empty from late Feb until last week when it finally rained!
Store them upside down.
Soldato
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- 11 Sep 2013
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Where I live, out in the sticks, pressure is roughly 20lpm on half blast.
In town it's closer to 46lpm.
The UK standard is 10-15, for any tap. Anything below is classified as low pressure.
Depends on the area. Thames Water only has 11% of its domestic customers metered and hardly any commercial ones.
£193bn. That's a very minimalist estimate, though, which is typical of the OFWAT system and the main reason why there's been so little investment in the past 20 years.
Salary increase to mitigate bonus loss has already been outlawed.
It worked fine for 12 years, until unscrupulous foreign investors were allowed to take ownership.
Could have 10 bathrooms, but if 3 people are living there it's still the same number of flushes than a 1 bathroom house.
Not necessarily, many people are on meters already and running the taps for a bit before getting a glass of water is going to cost practically nothing - all this scrimping stuff you're talking about doesn't really touch the sides - it mostly just lets people feel good about themselves.
The paradox of water costs - plenty of complaints that it's too expensive but when you start looking at whether currently unmetered people would change behaviours based on metered cost, they almost certainly wouldn't change much because when you're paying about £2-£2.50 for 1000 litres of water, saving 50 litres here or there isn't worth the effort to save 10p. Even when you add associated sewerage charges, the figures just don't stack up enough for people to bother changing habits.
You might cut down on people throwing thousands of litres over their carefully maintained gardens but as you say, you won't meaningfully alter smaller behaviours like people rinsing glasses or running a tap until it's colder.
I’d suggest the 5p carrier bag charge says otherwise.
I’ve seen people spend £100 in Tesco and refuse to spend 30p on bags and they chuck it all in the trolley/car loose.
Soldato
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- 14 Jul 2005
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- Birmingham
Whereas other people will pay the carrier bag charge for a 3 item lunch deal.
30p a bag, What that like 15 years ago
If there any cheap ones left there £2 each , But it normally only the £4 per bag left
So you would then need to pay £20 for 5 bags on top of the £100 of shopping
£2
£4
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My experience would suggest those sort of people are in the (significant) minority - every time I go shopping most of the self service tills have people filling up a new 5p plastic bag or two (though I guess maybe some are just ticking the 'I didn't use a bag' option and not paying?).
That's also a scenario with a direct immediate associated cost too, where it's extremely blunt for people - have a bag and pay extra now or don't have a bag. With water it's 'adjust your habits now for several months and you might save a fiver on your bill later' - if people don't see an immediate impact, it's harder to reinforce the association between the habit and the cost.
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I do this all the time. In fact I'd say I do it like this 90% of the time. I've got tons of bags in the car. When using self-scan I just fling it all in the trolley, check out, and then pack at my leisure at the car. This means if I decide to remove something mid-shop I'm not having to rummage through bags, if I get one of those "
So I just shop however I want, scan it and fling it in the trolley.The anti-thief attendant can then scan whatever they want and I can pack how I want at the car, allowing me to unpack as conveniently as possible when I get home.
Just reading this back, I might be overthinking this a tad.
Soldato
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- Birmingham
Ah yes. Its like whether you put the toilet paper on forward or backwards isn't it. My glasses are always stored upright, as it is in my parents house.
It started out at 5p per bag, 30p = 6 bags. Those Waitrose bags are not exactly equivalent to the single use bags and those types of bag have always had a material cost.30p a bag, What that like 15 years ago
If there any cheap ones left there £2 each , But it normally only the £4 per bag left
So you would then need to pay £20 for 5 bags on top of the £100 of shopping
£2
£4
It’s hard to see past anecdotal evidence sometimes but here is the reality of the 5p charge.
Plastic bag use falls by more than 98% after charge introduction
Figures show massive decrease in number of single-use bags sold by main retailers since 2014.
While you are not likely to see a 98% reduction with water meters, research suggests it is material this report suggests 20%:
water meter reduces consumption | University of Southampton
New Research Has Indicated That Water Consumption Can Be Reduced By More Than 20%, Significantly More Than Current Policy Targets Following The Installation Of Meters.
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Think plastic & Paper bags have been banned since around 2021 or 2022
I found about Jersey
States Agree To Ban Single-Use Plastic Bags
The States has unanimously backed a draft law to ban certain types of plastic and paper carrier bags.
www.islandfm.com
I haven't seen the old 5p plastic carrier bags forsale over here for some years now.
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