Water ...to your house....

[Zak33]

I'm gonna stir up a fuss here because I just found out that.....

you CANT be disconnected from the water mains BY LAW because its an essential to good health.

and YET...I have to pay water rates....AND...the water companies are going to raise prices over the next 3 years to pay for a new infrastructure (which we do need, to stop losses and to keep it clean etc) and YET....they are owed over....

ready..?

£800 MILLION pounds in lost water bill revenue from the last 20 years....from people not paying AND YET still using it.

How angry :grr:


fuming

[TeePee]

But if you don't pay, you can still be taken to court, etc for non-payment. The problem lies in the system used by the courts to retrieve money owed.

Surely you would not deny people the right to clean drinking water?

[Zak33]

what......if they dont pay?

If they dont pay for electric....they'll freeze won't they?

Cos they cant just go out and cut trees for a fire!

[turkster]

Well if they dont pay for electricity it is very unlikely that they will die. With a bit of extra clothing it would be perfectly possible to live in the UK with no heating.
I don't think a gov can refuse to provide water to those who do not pay because it is neccessary for life. Although obviously they should be made to pay.

[Zak33]

Although obviously they should be made to pay.

off ya go then.........show us how!

Seriously tho...that's a bit harsh and you worded it well.....

but you TRY making someone pay.....if they're already in arrears...wasting your time.....but the buggers are still washing their cars with the water.

What?...don't believe they have cars?......of course they have...and they can afford to put PETROL in them, HOPEFULLY insure them.....tyres, ROAD TAX HOPEFULLY TOO>....but not pay a few quid per month for WATER!

and for THAT reason.....NONE of us should pay water bills..........

if its the GOVERNMENTS RESPONSIBILTY to water us.....I'm up for that.

[TeePee]

And you will pay more for it in taxes, since in the end you have to pay for it.. Lets do this with electricity as well, and maybe a few industries. We could call it 'Nationalization'. Genius!

[turkster]

off ya go then.........show us how!

Seriously tho...that's a bit harsh and you worded it well.....

but you TRY making someone pay.....if they're already in arrears...wasting your time.....but the buggers are still washing their cars with the water.

Well this is mainly an urban problem as rural dwellers will generally require their own well. As far as i know we don't pay for water in Ireland in urban areas (at least when ever i've stayed in the city i've never had to pay).

As for the rural situation if you are not a farmer (not business) you get a grant to replace/repair/install a well and pump which will pay omething like 90% of it. Of course you still have to pay your electricity bill and you dont get any help with this. So you end up paying for your water according to how much you use and i have to say it does encourage a certain amount of frugality.

Your water sytem in England is not metered so you are paying a flat rate yeah? In which case it probably makes little difference to the amounts people use. f this is the case then you may as well make water free and just pay it with taxes.

You say it is difficult to get people to pay so how do you get people to pay taxes. I know there are a lot of people out there dodging the system (probably more over here ) and making us pay for it which is clearly not fair but i dont think you could actually justify cutting off their water without looking at their means first.

[Alex]

Ain't it a little unfair to tell people that they have to pay for water if they want it, and not give them the choice of not having it?

As turkster says, why not make it built into taxes? Its pretty much the same thing, but makes it a little easier to swallow, and a lot easier to enforce people pay it.

[TeePee]

Remember your watrer bill also covers sewage. We can't have sewage running down the middle of the street because a few people choose not to pay for it. (although I hear they do that in Birmingham).

[Zak33]

Remember your watrer bill also covers sewage. We can't have sewage running down the middle of the street because a few people choose not to pay for it.

Well worded...its ALL water guys....including filertering and cleaning it.....

and all the sweage from your bog and sink is included....

Now as to WHY rural people need it....same old reason. and if they CANT bet sewage from their house THEY MUST PAY to have a spetic tank or slurry tank...

they MUST PAY......they have no choice or the health and safety dept plus Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries gets called by a neighbour for polluting the fields etc....

and at THAT point they are on their own.

But not a bunch of people in a main town who coulds do the following without being cut off...

A: Water the garden all day long...
B: Wash the car and hose the drive down after
C: Run a small Hydro Electric generator to power a firdge and lighting.....
(you think I'm kidding.....nope)
D: flush all the family waste down the bog and the sinks....
E: Complain to the water board OFFICIALLY if the drains in the street get blocked....!

I mean.....ITS ESSENTIAL FOR LIFE.....RIGHT?

SO IS FOOD>>>>>>>you dont have a GOVERNMENT BODY bringing BREAD AND MILK to your house if you dont PAY FOR IT!

WHEN did you last go to Tesco and plead poverty at the till and be allowed to walk out with a basic family food ration!

[Zak33]

Ain't it a little unfair to tell people that they have to pay for water if they want it, and not give them the choice of not having it?

Have you never drunk any water? Never flushed a toilet?

Blimey.......thats ace

[Allen]

Pfft, it's easy! Just bottle it up and sell it. That'll cover the water rates, easy!

Might become a miwwionaire too!

[Alex]

Have you never drunk any water? Never flushed a toilet?

Blimey.......thats ace

Yeah, but surely you can disconnect water the same as you can disconnect electricity?

All I was saying is that if you're going to make it madatory, why not take it out of taxes instead, and raise taxes that 0.01% it would take (or however much) so that a: it seems fairer and b: so that its less easy to evade paying for it.

[Twigman]

you can disconnect water by using those stop tap things in the road...

if you dont pay your water bill you wont get cut off, but the water company will do its best to ruin your credit rating by telling every bank etc about it. You will never get a loan or anything every again. (well maybe).

[elglg]

Yes but it is actually illegal for the water company to cut you off. I think they can limit the flow of water though??
The problem with adding it to taxes is that most of these people probably avoid paying taxes anyway, either through not declaring fully what they earn or being permanently on the dole.
Yes water is essential to life, but why should honest joe public get ripped off paying for it when others simply can't/won't pay for it??
Ok so it may be a little different for those that can't pay for it, but why is it they can't pay for it? Is it because, as Zak has already said, because they have the nice new car on their drive way or because they can't be arsed to go and get a job because this countries benefits system looks after them too well? That the extra, if any, money they would receive doesn't make it worth while going out to work instead of sitting around watching day time tv.

Think I may have gone slightly OT there but it just really annoys me when the average person has to fork out their hard earned to pay for the system dodgers...

[Zak33]

That the extra, if any, money they would receive doesn't make it worth while going out to work instead of sitting around watching day time tv.

Think I may have gone slightly OT there but it just really annoys me when the average person has to fork out their hard earned to pay for the system dodgers...

/\ like that