Raining outside but the taps are dry

Went to brush my teeth before going to bed last night, no cold water in the bathroom, and the hot water was cold. Phoned the Manager of the Block of Flats where we live. He had been inundated with complaints, but had no explanation.

Got up at 5.30 am to pay a visit to the bathroom, good news, hot and cold water supplies had been re-established.

Phoned up a number of fellow flat residents, but nobody seemed to know why we had lost the water supply, and how it had been re-established. But everybody was glad the problem had passed.

Noon, no cold water in the bathroom and the hot water was cold. What the #### was happening. Went with the Manager to take a look at the roof tanks - bone dry!!

After a few phone calls the full picture was revealed. The Water Company had reduced the supply pressure, resulting in insufficient pressure for the water supply to reach the roof tanks. Why has the pressure supply been reduced? The Water Company has been fined for losing water from leaks in its supply network. There are too many leaks to repair, so to reduce the amount of water lost, it has reduced the supply pressure. Why are there so many leaks? Simply, since privatisation of the water supply companies, companies have used profits to pay dividends to their shareholders rather than maintain and replace the supply network. So my fellow residents have to suffer.

If that wasn’t bad enough; the flats had been designed to cope with reduced water supply pressure. When the supply pressure drops too low to supply the roof tanks, pumps are supposed to start up to pump water to the tanks. Up to now, there has been no requirement for the pumps to operate. Nevertheless a maintenance company has been paid to maintain the pumps and ensure they are serviceable. Now that they are required, we discover the company hasn’t done any work on them, as a result they are seized solid and unserviceable. So until new pumps are installed we will be without hot water, and cold water in the bathroom.

Meantime it’s raining, so I can’t go for a walk.