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How much mains water do you use?

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  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    Saves time: saves water:what's not to love?
    Devon.
  • ErgatesErgates Posts: 2,953
    Absolutely, Hostafan. And it projects a light showing the time remaining onto the floor, plus little pictures showing what it’s doing! This is the washing part of the cycle! No more scrubbing dishes and I even get a ‘floor show’ to entertain me.
    Hope you are managing to get enough sleep, and things are progressing as peacefully as you could wish for.

  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    Thankyou @Ergates
    I was awake at 4, but got back to sleep at 5.45 for 2 hours. so I'm just having a cuppa then heading off to hospital. 

    Devon.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I want to thank the thread, as because of you I have been going through my water usage stats and looking at the Thames Water website and find I still might have a leak (even though TW says they fixed it). So I might be using a fraction of what I'm being billed for. Its an unholy faff to get TW to attend to it but it has to be done.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    until every customer has a meter, we'll never know how much is wasted. 
    The difference between what's pumped out and what's arriving ( being paid for ) at the customers would be obvious. 
    Water companies want the the government ( ie US ) to pay for the meters so it doesn't impact on their profits
    Devon.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Companies estimate around one third of water is lost to leaks - mostly through the network, not in homes. Not having privatised a basic utility would have helped, as the cost of really looking after the network properly is never going to allow for 'profit'.

    But it's a genuinely tough question to know what to do about leaks. London has thousands of miles of Victorian water pipes. It's easy to say Thames Water should fix their leaks but it's a nightmare for an area that is historically dry with the highest usage, by region, in the UK.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    Fire said:
    Companies estimate around one third of water is lost to leaks - mostly through the network, not in homes. Not having privatised a basic utility would have helped, as the cost of really looking after the network properly is never going to allow for 'profit'.

    But it's a genuinely tough question to know what to do about leaks. London has thousands of miles of Victorian water pipes. It's easy to say Thames Water should fix their leaks but it's a nightmare for an area that is historically dry with the highest usage, by region, in the UK.
    Thames water were happy to take over the situation, it's about time they paid for infrastructure improvements
    As is so often the case with these privatized utilities, they want to keep the profit, but get the government ( ie us tax payers ) to pay for infrastrucure. 
    network rail being a prime example
    Devon.
  • Ergates said:
    Just an update on this topic. We have been without a dishwasher for six months during a kitchen revamp, so I’ve been washing up by hand. ( bowls of hot soapy water, plus final rinse in running hot water ) The water bill has recently come in, and I have checked this six moths useage against the previous two years. In 2019, we used 40 cubic metres, in 2020, 35 cubic metres. This half year, we used 45 cubic metres, and the only major difference I can identify is the dishwasher. New one installed, thank goodness, and using a miserly 4 to 6 litres per wash.
    Sounds like a good call.

    A normal modern dishwasher cycle will use about the same water as a decent sized plastic washing up bowl full. 6l is exceptional (is it a slim or a mini dishwasher?).

    So the difference is mainly the running-tap rinsing - which would perhaps be 15l for 5 minutes at a slowish running tap speed. A power shower would be 50-80l for 5 minutes. 
    “Rivers know this ... we will get there in the end.”
  • Ferdinand2000Ferdinand2000 Posts: 537
    edited September 2021
    Fire said:
    Companies estimate around one third of water is lost to leaks - mostly through the network, not in homes. Not having privatised a basic utility would have helped, as the cost of really looking after the network properly is never going to allow for 'profit'.

    But it's a genuinely tough question to know what to do about leaks. London has thousands of miles of Victorian water pipes. It's easy to say Thames Water should fix their leaks but it's a nightmare for an area that is historically dry with the highest usage, by region, in the UK.
    The latest number for Thames Water seems to be just under 25% of water supplied is lost to leaks.

    That is based on the latest leak number from this report for 2020/21 that leaks are 635 million litres per day:
    https://www.thameswater.co.uk/media-library/home/about-us/investors/our-results/current-reports/annual-report.pdf

    and the statement that they supply 2.6 billion litres per day:
    https://www.thameswater.co.uk/media-library/home/about-us/performance/customer-commitment/codes-of-practice/general-info-codes-of-practice.pdf 

    Personally I think the industry is better privatised, as there has been a huge increase in investment - and any shortfall cannot be hidden in government budgets.

    Difficult to set a benchmark level with different ages of infrastructure and different planning systems. 

    In a previous house we had about 1/4 of an acre of garden sodden for 10+ years because there was a leak next door on the supply side of the meter. It was only revealed when the new owner dug up the drive, and excavated for a large semi-basement building to house their two traction engines and workshop, and it turned into a several feet deep lake in no time at all.
    “Rivers know this ... we will get there in the end.”
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    @fire. don't you have a meter?  You would save pounds if you do.
    I often look at the meter, if it’s turning when I’m out there then there’s a leak.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

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