Drought warning: Water may be shipped in
Wednesday 23rd November 2011, 3:00PM GMT.
Water levels in Island reservoirs have dropped to just 35 per cent
ISLANDERS could be paying to import water into the Island by next summer because of low water levels.
Jersey Water is investigating bringing in water from in converted tankers from Norwegian fjords, with customers meeting the huge cost.
Each shipment would give the Island enough fresh water to last five days.
While those investigations continue, Islanders are being warned to conserve water or face measures including hosepipe bans and higher water bills.
People are being encouraged take showers instead of baths, not leaving the taps running when brushing teeth and to stop washing cars with hose pipes.
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‘Shower instead of a bath’ – nobody else has checked out the figures have they?!?! Survey released by Unilever and reported on BBC this morning – average shower time taken is 8 minutes, which requires as much water and energy as having a bath. If you use a power shower, that figure can be doubled. New guidance please!
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Might want to review the shower advice…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15836433
I say bath with a friend instead!
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Funny how Guernsey water is at 85%!
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Guernsey water levels are at 85% because they have been investing properly for some years in collecting water from almost every stream that was running out to sea
What have we been doing?
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Maybe Jersey should import both waste and water from Guernsey and call it quits.
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Really awesome, slightly wider avenue with added bends?
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Guernsey also is not under a development spree when builders lay tarmac and hard landscaping at every opportunity in addition to trying to ‘Develop’ every piece of greenery on the island.
Therefore rain merrilly runs into the sewers and out to see rather than into the water table and streams..
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we need to know how this shortage has been affected by Jersey water deciding to drain the whole of Val De La Mare this year. If this has been caused by their decision then they should shoulder the financial burden for their actions?
Maybe this is an appropriate use for the rainy day fund?
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I would also like to ask what happened to the water in Val De la Mare? Was is it stored in containers? Diverting it to other reservoirs would not have helped the overall supply.
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I can only presume it was used, but a good question none the less.
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You’re having a laugh! Jersey importing water from Norway. Maybe if Val de la Mare hadn’t been emptied there would have been more water to go round.
What’s wrong with Guernsey? They could pay us in water for us burnimg their rubbish.
Luckily as I am on my own water supply none of this will affect me. An added benefit of your own supply is that it saves paying GST as well, a win-win for the customer.
Remember higher prices mean more GST which no doubt the states like as it gives them more revenue to spend on more projects.
I have to say this reinforces my view that the island is descending into a shambles more and more each day.
I would have said quagmire but it appears these are now in short supply and may be in danger of extinction.
It was in 1976 that Queens Valley was flooded to cope with a rising population and that was 35 years ago and the population is now substancially higher. Maybe it is time to flood another valley to meet this extra demand? What is the population level now? I would say it is over 100k maybe even 120k.
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As Mogit (No. 26) points out, Queen’s Valley wasn’t flooded in 1976. He says it was 1991 but my research says 1992.
1976 was the year of the big droubt in Jersey and it was also the year that the desalination plant opened, which was EXTREMELY TIMELY. A rare example in Jersey of forward planning and investment paying off for the benefit of all of us. What would we have done in 1976 without it? The cost was irrelevant and will be irrelevant once again if things get worse this time. The States is the major shareholder and should cover the cost in times of emergency to stop water bills rising too much.
It is also worth pointing out that in 1976, the population was only 71,000 and today it has grown by at least 21,000, although we now have Queen’s Valley to call upon.
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You are quite right it was 1991 that it was completed. I was getting ahead of myself.
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But I spelt ‘drought’ wrong… and it was written at the top of this page so a mark knocked off for me! We don’t have them very often so I guess that’s why I can’t spell the word.
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Good post Jerry. However whilst the population was only 71,000 in 1976, the tourist industry could add another 70,000 at peak of season. Those were the days!
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Does the 35% drop have anything to do with emptying Val de la Mar?
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Proper planning prevents pathetic performance – didn’t Jersey once have a desalination plant at Corbiere?
Maybe it would have been better to have spent money on a new desalination plant rather than on other grandiose schemes, like the steam clock.
Couldn’t they get water from the big cavern at Fort Regent that was supposed to save St. Helier from the great flood.
I wonder if this was discussed at the recent emergency planning seminar at the Radisson Hotel? http://www.thisisjersey.com/news/2011/10/10/radisson-stay-for-civil-servants-well-worth-the-expense/
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I have commented before that one of the limiting factors for the island population is water.
Unless we are prepared to ship in water from Norway, build a huge desalination plant or start a scheme of society wide economy measures that will not be compatible with a tall poppy, have it all lifestyle then we might have to think about limiting our population.
If you think that climate change is a reality and the island will recieve less rain then the outlook is worse.
Drilling hundreds of boreholes is not an option as it would rapidly deplete the ground water and we would have saline incursion rendering the island almost uninhabitable.
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Pip. Time to put a stop to all immigration?
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Did they not emptied it recently?
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Why should we have to pay.Let the water company make a loss for the year, they emptied Val de la mare. If my company makes a mistake in estimating the cost of providing a service I have to stand up to the loss. I can’t just make my customers pay more. What’s wrong in 1 years loss as against making everyone pay even more.
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Why should the customer pay? Is the water company’s profits not great enough for them this year? We pay for them to provide a service why should e pay twice?
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So…. you mean to tell me that all the water they drained from Val De La Mare was not stored or transfered to other reservoirs?
That would have been expensive to do, but not half as expensive as having to import water from other places!
I know we have had a fairly dry Autumn with the forecasts suggesting the same for Winter, but come on! Even Guernsey’s water levels are fairly high (over 75% I think). Jersey Water cocked up this time so they should have to pay for this, not the public!
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There are not really any valleys left to flood. Most of them have a lot of houses in the bottom filled with wealthy people who might object more than a little.
Other valleys already have their water ‘harvested’. For example Greve de Lecq valley has a pond and pumping station that puts all the water from the old mill stream into the reservoir system.
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let them drink their swimming pools!
an obscene amount of water is used for private pools here, very clear on flying in over the island.
This has been a latent issue for a decade or more. Queens Valley was very beautiful before it was flooded to service crazy population and greed levels.
May as well get on with rationing, it’ll be here for all sorts sooner or later. Very obvious that frugality not part of the majority ignorant/greed culture over here.
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There was a very interesting conversation on the radio this morning in which listeners were told that there are approx. 40 boreholes in St Ouen that are capable of producing up to 250,000 litres of water daily. That is 10 million litres a day.
In 2008, Barcelona imported 138,000,000 litres of water a month for 3 months from France. Each tanker carrying 23 million litres. That was 18 deliveries in total at a cost of £17.5million.
That works out at over £3,000,000 for what we can get from underneath us each week, if the information on the radio this morning was correct.
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Right I shall do my bit starting from tomorrow morning.
I will take my towel and soap and go to the water feature in the new park and shower every morning,while it is quiet.
Not only will I be saving water,but my electricity too.
A win win situation.
No pepping toms please.
Lady Godiva eat your heart out
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OOPS I meant peeping,just a slip of the finger.
Hope you get this up before the dreaded spelling police arrive
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It’s spelt Peeping!
tee hee hee!
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People are being encouraged to stop washing cars with hosepipes – can I have a refund on the £50 extra I pay annually for a hosepipe.
If they can predict the weather 3 monts ahead as a recent story suggested might it have been prudent not to empty Val de La Mar, never mind we’ll pick up the bill.
Doesn’t present much of a problem for me, I don’t drink it ( unless first fermented ) and I sure as hell dlon’t wash in it.
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many will rember the water shortages in the early 70′s . the desalanation plant must cost a small fortune to run as i belive it needs oil to run it ( i could be very wrong ) and oil is how much a barrel these days , why would we ship from norway??
france is much closer . so the ship would burn less fuel , no?
if we were not so over populated, then we would need less water.
shocking thought from pip clement, we could end up like easter island . people thinking of harvesting water from the gutters of homes to a water butt , should get it tested, bird droppings and alike will make you ill, i am not a expert on this matter , but rember a old gent who became very ill from , using harvested water.
the public require more information form the correct authority.
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The original plant was oil fired – I remember the chimney, but the replacement plant is nuclear powered, via french ‘lecky !
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This must have been caused by Val De La Mare being closed.
The work was supposed to be finished by now but typical Jesrey there is no sign of it being completed.
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The GST charge on the water import help pay for the extra money needed for the newly unemployed.
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Am I right in thinking they only days ago mentioned the desalination plant? AND that it wasn’t going to come at a cost to bill payers (considering their profit margins I should b****y well hope not )
Stop taking the proverbial pee and get on with it shipping in water? We are surrounded by it and it would cost less to fire up the de sal
Get a grip for gods sakes!!! And manage our money a bit better you idiots!!!
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This does not happen in Majorca and warmer places…there are too many people drinking it we are overpopulated……….
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Ref Val de la Mare, I believe I heard Waterworks say that the reservoir had been drained but that the water was not all lost as it had been routed to other reservoirs.
The real problem is that despite paying out handsome dividends to shareholders (States share 51% ??) the Val de la Mare dam wall was left to get in such a state it had to be drained, instead of a proper maintenance programme. Let the shareholders pick up the tab both for the desalination plant, and if necessary the importation of water. It does baffle me that the closest available water comes from Norway. Transporting it this distance combined with the desalination plant, we must be leaving a huge carbon footprint !
Save water, drink beer !
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So……..the desalination plant has only been going for a few weeks why was,nt it started early……….there are gallons of water been wasted in the new park, before people say its been recycled, there is waste as it disappears as mist…………….why should we be paying for some idiot making a mistake…………
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We need to bring back the management of the water board from 1976! that was truly a drought year to remember, and they never imported water to cope!
Watch the water rates rise now!!
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too right. and we didn,t have half the population either
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You are correct about the population, however the holiday makers over here at the time combined with the population, out stripped the whole of the population that we have now.( if we still had the same amount of tourists now, we would certainly be up the creek with no water.)
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5 Mario – agree with some of your comments, except Queen’s Valley was flooded in ’91, time flies when you’re having fun!!!
All this proves is yet again bad management pass the buck – just like the States !
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Sorry Jersey Water but this was your error therefore you must take the hit. And if supplies really are so critical why hasn’t the hosepipe ban been introduced already?? Why wasn’t the desalination plant fired up sooner??
Start charging us the customer more and I’ll start buying bottled water from the supermarket!
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HaHa
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Not really sure I understand what the joke is Nelson?
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If we do end up having to pay for Norwegian water to be shipped in might we reasonably assume that shareholder’s dividends and directors bonuses will be reduced accordingly?
No?
Thought not.
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Regards showers, have one like mariners or anyone who has ever worked at a remote scientific station,etc with limited water supply have.Tap on, get wet, tap off, soap up and shampoo hair, tap on and rinse off, tap off,uses very little water and on many vessels especially naval ones, i think it is almost mandatory.
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Here in Guernsey we sometimes have to accept some of the most incredible political mess ups
and obscene public money spending you can imagine,so as a “Guern” i sympathize with Jersey over the “who left the plug out” water
situation..Here in Guernsey there has been a huge amount of development, houses etc over the last years,but the resevoir capacity holding has remained the same since it was constructed,in other words, the more straws you put in the same glass the less there is to go around.I am a frequent visitor to Norway,so the one thing the Jersey water board has done correctly is to select some of the purest water in the world,hardly anyone in Norway drinks bottled water,infact there is
hardly any choice of bottled water to be found
in any Norwegian supermarket,the “Vikings” just drink it from the tap!BUT that is the only thing that the Jersey water board appears to of done correctly.Only half the storey of any internal
Political mess up will ever be Known to the general “jo blogs” public,and it will be the humble “jo blogs” that will allways have to pick up the “tag” of incompetent, and a lack of that very not so common thing called “common sense”..I am also a frequent visitor to that small British enclave the rock of Gibraltar stuck on the south point of Spain,just 14 kms from Africa.That small Rock
of just a few kms all round should put our Islands to shame.Those of you who have visited
Gibraltar may not of realised that all of its
fresh water needs are supplied from its huge
desalination plant (sea water to fresh water),and even more incredible,all of Gibraltars Sanitary/toilet flushing needs are done with sea water supply,in other words every domestic and work/business unit has two supplies of water,fresh and sea water,the seawater beeing supplied through plastic piping to avoid corrosion,and the system works!and no wasting of obscene quantities of fresh water to flush the “loo”.
Guernsey, many years back also had a desalination plant,but like most things the States get hold of,it did not last long,and went for scrap! So Jersey water Board,take a trip south to visit Gibraltar and see how a group of monkeys sitting high up on the rock,run their water situation,with sucsess.If water is to be imported from Norway, please make sure its imported along with an instruction manual,namely a few Norwegian politicians,who may just get both our islands up and running in the way things should be.We can all learn from each other,if
there was the will to do so.
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Houses should be equipped with ‘Grey Tanks’ which collect bath water to flush the toilets.
Importing water from Norway to flush my loo seems a bit extreeme to me !
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So, when waterworks decided to empty Val De La Mar reservoir for essential repairs did they not firstly foresee an island shortage and secondly make allowances for such a shortage.
Why should the island pay for their mistakes?
I understand that water usage has been lower since each new house is fitted with a water meter.
What happened to our desalination plant? have waterworks failed to maintain it as they thought it wasn’t needed! Well we need it now!
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Jersey has water in abundance below ground.The grass remains green and the plants are healthy.Why ship it in from Norway when we have it a few feet beneath?
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A bunch of fools the lot of them how do you get a tanker of that size any wear close in shore to unload it for any lenth of time, first blow and you have a tanker on the beach\rocks. Time somebody replaced this bunch who are just trying to cover up their inability to manage and deal with the problem with sensationalism. Why knowing of the problem did not get the reverse osmosis plant running sooner so it had a chance to ease the situation. The Oil fired desalination plant was cut up for scrap a long time ago but given the state of journalism in this island not at all surprised it is still being refered to, 10 year olds could do a better Job.
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JNWW should have to dip into reserves (GBP40 Million) rather than charge customers for their failure to insure against this event. They knew that they would be exposed to this if there was little rain during their project, why wasn’t it covered by insurance?
Politicians and customers may want to reflect on the impressive growth in dividends over past few years of relative Island hardship.
Year
Net Dividend on Ordinary and ‘A’ Ordinary shares
Interim Final Total
Pence per share
2010 116 224 340
2009 105 214 319
2009 Special Dividend - - 228 (yes £5.47 for the year!)
2008 96 194 290
2007 88 164 252
2006 84 144.8 228.8
2005 80 137.6 217.6
Also see this further extract from 2010 Annual Report
During 2010, a discretionary executive director bonus scheme was established for Mr Snowden and Mr Smith.
It will be interesting to see the level of discretion applied after this fiasco.
Is anyone starting to catch a whiff of unwashed fat cats?
Finally, ‘Midas Touch Kevin Keen’ was recently on the board. With Jersey Dairy, Jersey Water and Jersey Post we should think ourselves lucky we don’t yet have Jersey Nuclear for him to perform his magic on!
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I agree with everything up to having a dig at Kevin Keen. He inherited a mess at Jersey Dairy, and oversaw the move to Trinity which will hold them in good stead for years I think.
Also, Jersey Post was a mess when he arrived, and he has a big ask to turn it around, but he certainly won’t shy away from giving it a go.
Also Jersey Water has to be the responsibility of the CEO, and that is Snowden. Kevin Keen was on board for his financial acumen, and from what you detail above, he has done an exceptional job! I wish he’d have gone for Senator, he would have brought some fiscal sanity to our Island.
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Water consumption will radically reduce in a couple of years when all on the mains supply are foced to be metered, JS Water profits will increase several hundred percent. The net result of this is that most of us ( Stinky Le Phew aside ) will pay more for our water. Well you didn’t think it was being introduced as an environmental measure did you, it’s blatent profiteering.
Then again it’s not as if it falls out of the sky – wait a minute…
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Greetings from Guernsey crapauds, don’t panic we’ll send you some water on the same shipments as all the rubbish that we’ll soon be putting your way!!
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there is a charity car wash up ransoms on saturday! in light of this issue, shouldnt this be postponed?!
i doubt it. it will go on regardless i imagine.
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The Water company has a legal duty to supply water to a domestic consumer. It is a statutory duty which arises under the Water (Jersey) Law 1972. On one argument, the company has failed in that duty if it is unable to supply water, seemingly due to mismanagement.
In order to fulfil the duty, it is up to the company to take such steps as are necessary to prevent it falling foul of the law. It has access to a desalination plant but would appear to be strangely reluctant to switch it on.
Whatever steps it takes are the problem of the company, not the consumer which it is legally bound to supply. If the company is unable to fulfil that duty, then it should put itself into administration and allow another company to take over its operation, together with the legal duty to supply water which it accepted when times were no doubt much more profitable for the company and its shareholders.
Perhaps the company might like to disclose the salary of its managing director and other members of the board and the senior managment.
Whatever the outcome, I think that we can reasonably assume that the real reasons for this failure will not be revealed by the comapany.
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For the year 2010, the executive directors recived the following:
Howard Snowden – £117,000 salary plus £9,000 benefits = £126,000 (not including an additional £10,403 contribution to his pension by the company);
Helier Smith – £108,000 salary plus £4,000 benefits = £112,000 (not including an additional £10,440 contribution to his pension by the company);
All the non-executive directors received £12,000 p.a. apart from Kevin Keen who received £20,000. Source is here (page 12 of 13):
http://www.jerseywater.je/pdffiles/annual%20report2010/10-Notes-to-the-Financial-Statements.pdf
I suppose they would be quick to point out that this is peanuts compared to other utility companies like the JEC, where the chief executive Chris Ambler had a package worth £222,424 in the year 2009/10, with three other senior executives each pocketing between £178k and £187k (source = JEP Business Page, 22nd July 2011).
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Charlie you can hardly compare Jersey to Gibraltar, Gibraltar is an island connected to a thin peninsula to a larger land mass. As such it has unlimited access to sea water, all they have to do is desalienate the sea water to drink and pump in pure seawater to flush the loo.
We on the other hand are… oh bugger I think we might be an island too, that scuppers it. you’d need to put a bit of mesh in the loo to prevent having sharks come out and bite your bum when you flushed.
Which one is Elvis, is it the sideboards or the cosmetic surgery, I get confused.
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37, the forcing of consumers onto meters has no basis in law. There is no authority in the law for such action. The company is also supposed to serve notice where it intends to out in a meter on provate ground but it doesn’t do so.
The waterworks company is on shaky ground with the metering and probably knows as much. The problem is, with the States apparently controlling a majority of shares and the States also being the regulator of the company, it is fairly obvious that the States are not exactly going to fall over themselves to bring the company back into legal line.
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Well it seems that is the aim of the JNWW co. to get everyone on meters within 5 years according to a previous JEP report copied below.
=============================================
http://www.thisisjersey.com/latest/2010/03/04/all-homes-to-be-on-water-meters-within-five-years/
“Thursday 4th March 2010, 2:59PM GMT.
Jersey Water will begin installing the meters from late spring as part of a major programme to help safeguard the Island’s long-term water supply.
The plan, which was announced this morning, includes:
• Installing 17,500 meters free of charge across the Island, starting with the northern parishes.
• Consider further flooding Val de la Mare reservoir by a height of nine metres to increase capacity from 900 million litres to 2,100 million litres.
• Extracting water from more boreholes in St Ouen’s Bay to generate up to two million litres of water per day. Currently water is drawn from just five small boreholes in the bay.
• Using the latest technology to reduce leaks by 25 per cent.
• Educating Islanders about how to use less water.
=============================================
Some of the comments on here are very interesting you should go through them.
Mind you if they try it on with those supplying themselves it could cause them some headaches.
I for one am on my own supply and it costs me a fraction of the price it would cost me if I was on the mains plus I don’t have to pay extra to water my garden should I so wish. The best bit is I don’t pay the horrible GST tax on it either which suits me fine.
To me using the green card is just a cover for raising costs to the consumer. I don’t believe any business does things for nothing like the JNWW co. apparently are doing by connecting people to meters for free. I bet they will be getting their money back some how.
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It is not hard to see why they are so keen to give out water meters for free: their 2010 financial statements show that revenue from measured water charges rose by about 8.5% (to £7.4 million) compared to the previous year, whereas unmeasured water charges dropped by about 7.8% (to £5.7 million). Service charges and other charges for water also dropped (to £0.617 million). So measured water charges now constitutes their biggest revenue earner and looks set to continue growing. Source is here (page 10 of 13):
http://www.jerseywater.je/pdffiles/annual%20report2010/10-Notes-to-the-Financial-Statements.pdf
If this was the UK we would be having a serious discussion about the possible negative effects of water metering on the hygiene standards of those on the lowest incomes and with the largest families. Obviously no such discussion amongst Jersey politicians, which is shameful.
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All properties large and small should be on water meters. Water may ‘fall out of the sky’ but it has to be processed and moved around in pipes.
There is only one reason for the water crisis – OVERPOPULATION
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Well said. Unfortunately your average thicko is so overawed by ‘scientists’ they assume science will provide the solution to all the problems overpopulation is causing.
And, of course, don’t forget that every woman who adds another person to the planet seems to believe that child will be the genius that solves the problem!
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hmmm Finite amount of water and an increasing population – this is what you get.
Why are the Census results not published yet or are the figures closer to the Christmas lottery jackpot total than the states want to admit?
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Indeed what is the population of the island will we ever know? No I don’t think it is as high as that yet. However it might not be too many years before it is unless things change. Finance going would take the pressure off this bubble.
I expect there could be many more dry periods than previously experienced in Jersey if this is so then we will get to the point of a regular water shortage. One thing is for certain Queens Valley got us out of a hole 20 years ago and now it looks increasingly likely that we will need a new one.
The coming years will see global water and food shortages meaning a more unstable global outlook. Indeed the 4 horsemen may be nearer than we think.
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Yes. Why are the Census results not published yet?
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I don’t think that you’ll see the cencus results until the States have knocked a hole in the unemployment statistics.
So don’t hold your breath!
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Most people know that the desalination plant now runs on reverse osmosis.
Reverse osmosis is cheaper than distillation which the old plant used but it is not a no cost process so it is something of a last resort.
Large scale heavy pumping from bore holes is not the answer as it would certainly risk saline incursion in to the ground water from the sea.
Long term I suspect that higher bills and metering will reduce demand so that it is more in line with the available supply.
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It is believed by some that fresh water flows from France to Jersey in underground streams it might be possible to draw a fair amount from boreholes without any major issues.
Obviously the JNWW co. would not admit this if it is true as it would undermine its ability to charge for another country’s water.
Higher bills will be the end result once all the mains customers are on meters I would put money on it.
I also believe that there may be an alterior motive as well as once you know what goes in you also know what comes out i.e. sewage. Once you know this you could introduce a sewage tax as well.
What do others think?
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Long term I suspect that higher bills and metering will reduce demand so that it is more in line with the available supply.
Agree. Hence why is Jersey so keen on immigration?
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What about a pipeline from France to St. Catherines.
It was possible over sixty years ago to carry fuel from the U.K. to Normandy !
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Brittany is already quite dry so I doubt the French will sell us water that they need.
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Sorry Snowdon – you should not have pulled out the plug!
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thanks to all who have corrected me on the fuel needs of the desalanation plant .
and i like ray locks (45) information about, the fuel from the uk to normandy.
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No way of knowing that there would be a drought that long ago. There was always the possibility but who’d have thought it this late in the year?
I’d be more critical if they had failed to maintain the dam and the worst had happened.
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They DID fail to maintain the dam. I understand that the wrong concrete was used on the dam walls, and they were crumbling decades before they were due to be renewed. While Val de la Mare is out of action, we’re not capturing what little rain there is falling. The private shareholders in the Water Company have been making obscene dividends for years – is the States complicit in the scam because they pick up some of the cream through their ownership of a majority stake? Time for the shareholders to take a hit for the extra costs – owning shares isn’t a one way bet!!!
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Can we afjord to import fro Norway?
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“It is believed by some that fresh water flows from France to Jersey in underground streams it might be possible to draw a fair amount from boreholes without any major issues.
Obviously the JNWW co. would not admit this if it is true as it would undermine its ability to charge for another country’s water.”
There is no evidence at all for underground streams running from France to Jersey and the condition of the underlying rock formations and the formation of the island is such that it is extremely unlikely.
We have had surveys at the cost of several thousands of pounds and they found nothing at all.
Can we please abandon the ideas of rivers of French water running under the island and the gas field under the Ecrehous!
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Hold on Pip,
I remember no less a personage than the newly (re)elected Gerard Baudains writing a letter to the august journal in which he claimed to have followed a stream from Grouville halfway to the Ecrehous, using that reliable scientific instrument a divining rod. Dare you question the logic of it all?
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The gas is potentially under St. Ouen’s Bay and St. Aubin’s Bay, Pip.
That’s if the ‘underlying rock formations’ are anything to go by!
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I made that last bit up.
I am not convinced of the likelihood of useful amounts of gas under St Ouen’s or St Aubin’s Bay.
If there is gas there then it is highly likely that it would be quite locked up and I cannot see fracking being allowed within spitting distance of town or in our soon to be National Park.
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Maybe time to employ a sustainable population strategy. I fear that continuous population growth may not be in the best interests of the Island. I wonder what level of population can Jersey sustain (with regards water, food)?
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Why are people so panicked or enraged about this? It hasn’t rained for months – of course we have less water.
Val de la Mare was emptied
Jersey Water can’t put prices up without the Minister for TTS approving it.
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And yet I was getting so fed up hearing what a “rubbish summer” it apparently was I was about to start hitting people!
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Woops – should have said “Val de la Mare was emptied into the existing supply, so no water was wasted”
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I am amused by people who thing JW should dip into their profits than put up costs …. take a look around, large companies are shedding staff left right and centre, but are the bosses who have made hay during the good times reducing their take during the bad times to keep people employed ?? are they hell !! There is no morals when it comes to business, JW dont care what we think they should do they will just impose the extra charges. As for teh legal argument used that they are obligated to provide a supply there is no provisions for that supply to be at a reasonable cost
I believe next the water bills will be sent out accompanied by a tub of vaseline
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If you want to help the waterworks company, why not do what I did this morning?
I filled up several jerry cans from the tap and then went and tipped them into val de la mare. Every little helps and I don’t mind paying a bit more on my water bill if I know that I am helping to fill the reservoir.
Seriously though, we need OFFWAT (a proper, independent regulator with teeth) in Jersey- the present regulation of this company is presently so weak as to be non-existent, as well the company must know. Nice position to be in- you can take the pee with utter impunity and job security.
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Let it run out.
That will teach us a lesson to remember and nobody will forget…
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None of the earth’s resources should ever be solely for the rich, so if metering is to be used it shouldn’t be used to charge more, it should be used to automatically cut off when someone goes over their alloted amount (rich or not)!
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Everyone should be metered if they don’t pay do as they do in Australia (a place with real water problems) and turn the pressure down to that property so they still get enough to drink but no more.
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Unless all of you complainers about this subject specialise in Meteorology or can predict the future, I suggest you shut your traps and start doing a rain dance!!
http://www.mcpasd.k12.wi.us/KMS/weiss/Semester2/pageskr04/index.html
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