Message 11/18
Date: 17-Apr-07 @ 01:28 AM -
RE: so there's no global warming?...
This is no shit, I work within the Transport, Travel Logistics & Utilities Sector within the Company I am employed by & as such I look after a small number of accounts in the Oil, Gas & Water industry so this is inside info from one of my customers tasked with repairing the water mains in the SE region, BTW there are 4 main contractors who have been awarded the work for the entire UK.
.........Straight from the horses mouth, the reason why there are hosepipe bans & water shortages is simple aswell as disgraceful. The UK is losing the equivalent of 1 resevoir per day due to leakage & is as a direct result of the lack of investment by the companies owing to the fact that huge profits have been prioritised over any substantial investment since privatisation of the industry.
Of course it dosnt help that the contractors employed to carry out emergency repairs do so with one arm tied behind there backs. Ever wondered why there appears to be one particular stretch of road closed for repairs weeks on end & when there finished & the holes are filled back in surfaces re-tarmaced, a week or so later the same company is back 100 yards further down the road doing it all over again? Simple, the Water Companies instructions are to patch the old mains rather than replace whole badly damaged sections (because the budget is not there to do so, allegedly) So the result is that the new repair simply pushes the problem down the mains to the next weakest point & bingo, off we go again & of course the multiple 1 off repairs cost way more than doing the job correctly in the first place!!!! WTF????
And the cheeky fookers spent millions on an advertising campaign informing us about how much they are doing, how hard they are working to address these issues & how important it is for us to work with them, to wash your car using a bucket rather than a hosepipe, bath rather than shower etc, etc.... What they clearly fail to see is that we are working with them, we continue to pay there continually hiked up prices, continue to be disrupted by there ongoing & often unnessacery groundworks so that they can invest still less, pay fat cat bonuses & report record profits & they try & lay a guilt trip on me because I prefer a shower to a bath in the morning!!!!!! Talk about taking the piss!!!
The contractors who are carrying out the repairs are being screwed too, profit margins for them equate to around 8% so there is very little in it for them too & no room for error. However the Water Companies are creaming it both ways, minimal investment in the infrastructure, contractors cutting there own throats to win just about break even contracts & at the same time hiking the prices up through the roof for us, the consumer so that they can announce record profits to their boardmembers & the city.
There is however one huge priority at the moment & that is the Victorian Water & Sewerage maintenance project which is taking place around the clock 24/7 beneath London which in parts is in such bad repair can no longer be ignored. Clearly this is of strategic importance not just to a Water Companies reputation but politically too, due to the potential fall out. Whilst £m's are being sunk into this project at the cost of less politically influential parts of the country you cant help but wonder what deals behind closed doors are being made to ensure that the Government dosnt have to face up to any 'politically' life threatening issues that could oust them from power?
Water Company Profits