Too busy yesterday to make an entry.
My life has been taken over by ##### water, or rather the lack of it.
Since Friday night the block of flat’s I live in has had a problem with the water supply. At 8.30 yesterday morning I checked the storage tank on the roof, and it was full. Now this is a massive tank that can meet all the needs of 100 flats for several days. Relief that we will have water.
In the afternoon the Manager of the flats phoned me to say, an engineer from the water company had come to check the mains water supply pressure, and he wanted me to accompany him to talk to the engineer. This was just as I was settling down to watch the Man United v Aston Villa game on TV. The mains pressure was low. I sent the Manager to check the tank. Empty. That‘s #### impossible. Why? It turns out, during the night there is enough mains pressure to fill the tank, then during the day the mains pressure drops, and the water in the tank drains back into the mains. #*#¤#*# . I was then accosted by a member of the committee who manages the Flats, who wanted me to explain to him the what’s and the why’s. Three hours later I manage to get back to my flat.
The really annoying thing is, four months ago another Flat resident (who is by profession a Consultant Engineer) and myself had warned the Managing Committee that action was urgently required to remedy problems existing in the water supply system, but we were brushed aside as trouble makers. Now they are like a beached whale flapping about helpless and desperately needing assistance.
Wish I lived in a Tepee pitched in a field in the Towy Valley in West Wales. No problem with water supplies - it’s always raining so you only have to leave a bucket outside. Also you don’t have to pay for water you don’t get. No problems with central heating leaking, or the pump breaking down - no heating, well that’s not quite right, throw a log on the fire, “smoky in here“. No commuting every day to work - just go once a month to Carmarthen to pick-up your National Security Giro payment. It’s a great life - if only it stopped raining.
Showing posts with label Water Company. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Water Company. Show all posts
Monday, 8 January 2007
Saturday, 6 January 2007
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.
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.
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