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Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

Where I live we have unmetered water. we are charged a flat rate for water and sewerage depending on the council tax banding of the place you live in.
See scottish water

The charges are collected by the local council along with the council tax.

As a family we shower rather than bathe, turn off taps when brushing teeth, only run dishwasher when full, only do washing on a full machine, only fill the kettle with the water we need, re use water we've cooked veg in for stock etc etc
I am really happy we have "soft" water.
I wouldnt carry water from the well, or bowsers ( we had a contamination scare a while back ) thats what the kids a re for.

@Tommo you've got a point, we take having clean water and sewage system for granted when so many struggle to have clean germ free water

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 9:18 pm

kleindoofy wrote:

... Welcome to the 21st century, not to mention the 20th. ...

Eight wrote:

The water meter ... is a fairly recent innovation in the UK ...

I rest my case. Laughing

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 9:40 pm

Tommo, you're right. My joke was in poor taste. Sad

Elite Baiter Joined: 03 Jan 2006 Posts: 1455

Water meters shock me.

I could never get why a shower a day, flushing the toilet, three loads of washing a week and not a lot more really was costing me £34 a month Sad

It's one of the things I think about when I try to kid myself that I prefer not having a flat to myself... along with similarly increasing electricity and gas bills that quickly moved me from thinking "I wish I had more money" to "Shit, if I don't get out of here another year of this will cause a problem."

@ Inspector Gadget: We pay for sewage on the basis that 90% of the water we use will be drained away. Unless you can prove it's less than that for some reason...

Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 12:10 am

^^^^ "...three loads of washing a week and not a lot more really was costing me £34 a month."

Shocked

We pay around $60 every three months (Give or take). The sewage is included when you pay your property tax, which depending on where you live, could be a lot or it could be a little.

Tommo Shanter wrote:

...when there are thousands of poor people in Africa and elsewhere in the world that often have to travel miles a day to get water that may, or may not, be particularly clean and fit to drink..... Crying or Very sad

It's a fact of life I'm afraid, just like crooked politicians and dirty cops. Evil or Very Mad

@Eight:no need to apologize, you meant no harm. Smile

BTW: just so that you know ...when I was a kid I sometimes had to travel a long distance to fetch water (close to a mile) and sometimes I had to travel even farther (across town by foot) just so that I could purchase the water that my family needed, so I know were they're coming from.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 41

Quote:

...when there are thousands of poor people in Africa and elsewhere in the world that often have to travel miles a day to get water that may, or may not, be particularly clean and fit to drink.....

I honestly don't see what that has to do with anything. There are also lots of people who don't have shoes, microwave popcorn, or the internet. That really isn't stopping me from enjoying two of the three.

Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 1:31 am

Nanny Ogg wrote:

As a family we shower...

Close-knit family huh?

Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 2:18 am

I think I'm actually saving money on my water meter, as opposed to my unmetered connection, and there's four people and two dogs here.

Now, if I could have an unmetered power connection that would be very nice. They did promise electricity too cheap to meter when they built Windscale, then just used it all to make lithium isotopes for hydrogen bombs. meh. Which one's mine?

Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 3:37 am

We have a minimum fee to just have a water meter. Therefore if we use less than the minimum amount, we still get to pay the minimum amount. Mad

I have a recipe for Instant Mud that I will be glad to share with anyone who has water... Laughing

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

@ Sir C

And you wouldn't believe the fights we have over the soap!

Here's an interesting note.
Some older folk rounds here always call the swimming pool ( or the swim centre ) "The Baths".
When they were first built as well as a salt water swimming pool they provided baths for those that didn't have access to such facilities.
It was very common for tenement flats not to have showers or bathrooms, some even had tenants sharing toilets.
Ach, the privileges we take for granted now!

Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 9:56 am

Who would have thought my wife's new love and a random word generator would create such a healthy topic.

It's fathers' day here... she's using the hose.

Trophy Videos · Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 3:05 pm

I think you should stop picking on Tasman, and all go jump in the ocean, like I do! Cool

Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 9:19 pm

Nanny Ogg wrote:

... It was very common ... not to have showers or bathrooms, ... even ... tenants sharing toilets. ...

Perhaps day we will be able to say that Eight wrote:

... showers, bathrooms, and toilets are a fairly recent innovation in the UK ...

Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 9:38 pm

I remember when all this was fields.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

^^

Though these days you're more likely to say I remember when there were boats in these docks,
ships from all over the world
unloading goods.
this was all water,
no retail outlets,
coffee shops
or fancy housing.....................

and we had to lick road clean wi tounge

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 12:13 pm

Water is free here... my landlord pays the water and sewer bill, but thats still only $50 every 3 months. the one time we didn't have a water bill is when we lived on the farm. we had a well and a septic tank (not in the same place)

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 1:59 pm

packman wrote:

we had a well and a septic tank (not in the same place)

Good thing you thought to put that little caveat, otherwise everyone would jump on you for drinking & bathing in your own crap. Laughing