so the snow has gone.....but so has the water !

[Spectral Morn]

Well the joy of the snow, ice and rising temperatures have been short lived as we (people of Northern Ireland) now have a more serious problem.....lack of water.

As amazing as it sounds and I can't conceive of how many bursts/leaks could cause this but many of our reservoirs have almost run empty. How that could have been allowed to happen is also staggering.

So many areas of Northern Ireland since this afternoon are now on restricted or rotational water supply (staggered switch off's). We have had no water since this afternoon.

So a modern city like Belfast has no water and NI is like a third world country and we seem to have a water-board run by incompetents. They say the water switch off's is to conserve resources but Why was this allowed to get so critical ? They knew there would be many burst pipes but to allow the water levels in the reservoirs to run so low is imho gross incompetence.

Anyone else anywhere in the UK having a similar problem ?



Regards D S D L

[Beechwoods]

We're fine here Neil. I remember reading this article (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11957359) recently, which would suggest that the problem may not be entirely caused by incompetence :rolleyes:

[DSJR]

I'm so sorry Neil, I hope something is done to sort this out - maybe the melting snow and sodden ground will drain into the reservoirs and at least partly refill them..

[Spectral Morn]

Its the fact that most of NI has been affected that is the staggering fact not a few areas.

Yes our local water board is a long running joke.....

We ourselves have managed not to suffer any burst pipes so I was quite happy about that but to come home this afternoon to find that the water board has turned large parts of Belfast off to conserve stocks is frankly somewhat of a shock.

We can cope but what about the tens of thousands of pensioners ? Who will not be able to....

Hopefully things will return to normal soon but I am not going to hold my breath.

Here is more on it http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12082535


Regards D S D L

[Mr Pig]

Anyone else anywhere in the UK having a similar problem ?

In Scotland, are you kidding?

[Jac Hawk]

Sorry to hear that mate, but here in north east england we have kielder resevoir, so water is one thing we are never short of, even through the driest of summers we have lots of lovely water

[Spectral Morn]

Sorry to hear that mate, but here in north east england we have kielder resevoir, so water is one thing we are never short of, even through the driest of summers we have lots of lovely water

Yes and we are not normally short of water either......it rains here all the time :( The fact is our tossers of a water board have allowed the water reserves to drain away so full reservoirs are now very low....

We have a number of sources of water here in NI including the Silent Valley in the Morne mountains and one of the biggest areas of fresh water in Ireland Lough Erne and also Lough Neigh.....still while those are not affected all the other reservoirs seem to have run low.

The situation is crazy and heads will I hope roll for allowing this situation to occur. Burst pipes can't be legislated for but not allowing the water to flow uncontrolled out off them could have been.


Regards D S D L

[Spectral Morn]

Here is a list of the places affected...... (if the site loads for you)

http://www.niwater.com/niwnews.asp its near enough most of NI :(


Regards D S D L

[The Vinyl Adventure]

My comment - "when it rains it pours" was even less appropriate than I thought ...
What a pickle ...

[Spectral Morn]

My comment - "when it rains it pours" was even less appropriate than I thought ...
What a pickle ...

Indeed :(

Its the old folks who will need help.....

Regards D S D L

[Welder]

Funny how in crisis such as this and most others within the private sector it’s the public who get told they must use less and pay more, while the shareholders are never asked to take a reduction in dividends, or the executives a cut in pay or reduced bonuses.

The capacity of the British to endure the lies and robbery that keeps 90% of the nation’s wealth to less than10% of the population never ceases to astound me. :scratch:

[John]

I been listening to this one the news, seems a lack of investment for years and years due to being centrally controlled for many years. seems like the engineers have been saying how poor the system is in Ireland for a few years now
Hope it gets sorted soon

[Jac Hawk]

It's this fcuking country all over "the uk i mean " we are lead to believe from an early age that we are this great nation, that our public services are the best, yada yada yada, it's not till you see what other countries have or see 1st hand the short commings like in N.I. that you see it's all a croc of shit, and that it's just rich folks lining there own pockets with huge bonus payments and golden handshakes etc. viva la revolution!!!

[Mr Pig]

The capacity of the British to endure the lies and robbery that keeps 90% of the nation’s wealth to less than10% of the population never ceases to astound me.

I know, it's astonishing. Whatever crap it is, we just take it.

[Spectral Morn]

Well the water was switched back on this afternoon (for our area)...but for how long ? We have filled all the containers we have and done all we needed to.

Investment is certainly an issue but its really management that is at fault in this case.

The people of NI have been paying for water through their rates bill for years and where has the money gone ? Who knows....into the British exchequer.....and then wasted on who knows what :doh:


Regards D S D L

[Reid Malenfant]

The people of NI have been paying for water through their rates bill for years and where has the money gone ?
Eh? :scratch: Rates??? You mean you don't get a seperate water bill or pay council tax?

:scratch: I'm a tad lost here Neil :doh:

[Spectral Morn]

Eh? :scratch: Rates??? You mean you don't get a seperate water bill or pay council tax?

:scratch: I'm a tad lost here Neil :doh:


No we don't pay a separate water bill we pay for it in our rates bill. No separate council tax either.....its in the rates bill as well.

This is why so many mainland folks come to live in NI :)

They want to introduce a water bill but to be honest there is likely to be civil unrest over it so I think it will be a few years before its brought in if at all.


Regards D S D L

[Reid Malenfant]

Wow, i haven't heard of anything like that since the 80s :eyebrows: I can see advantages & disadvantages in that system though, some households could win & others lose in certain respects ;)

I hope you aren't inconvenienced too much by these idiots messing you about Neil :doh:

I actually live in the driest part of the UK & can't remember the last time there was as much as a hosepipe ban here in summer :scratch: Seen plenty all over other parts of the UK though every year :confused: Might be something to do with the city sized reservoir at Empingham about 18 miles away though :eyebrows:

Damn, nearly missed it - 2001 posts :lol: Guess it's now 2001 a spaced oddity :cool:

[sparrow]

We've had no water all day here in Denny just our street is dry. Been drinking coke all day and the missus is missing here coffee and a bath.

[Spectral Morn]

There has been some mention on the news about parts of Scotland and Wales with similar problems to what we are experiencing here in NI.

Our water may well go off again, so I am filling anything that can hold H20 just in case.

Our Scottish Brothers and Sisters are sending us 160000 litres of bottled water tomorrow via the ferry.....yippeeee !!!!!!!!


Regards D S D L

[Spectral Morn]

Wow, i haven't heard of anything like that since the 80s :eyebrows: I can see advantages & disadvantages in that system though, some households could win & others lose in certain respects ;)

I hope you aren't inconvenienced too much by these idiots messing you about Neil :doh:

I actually live in the driest part of the UK & can't remember the last time there was as much as a hosepipe ban here in summer :scratch: Seen plenty all over other parts of the UK though every year :confused: Might be something to do with the city sized reservoir at Empingham about 18 miles away though :eyebrows:

Damn, nearly missed it - 2001 posts :lol: Guess it's now 2001 a spaced oddity :cool:


Yes the rates are worked out on the value of your home so from that point of view it is not always fair.



Regards D S D L

[Reid Malenfant]

Yes the rates are worked out on the value of your home so from that point of view it is not always fair.
Yes :rolleyes: I get a 25% reduction in council tax as i'm the only person living here, not a lot but it helps ;)

The water bill is payed yearly & earlier this year i forked out over £500 for it :eek: However as someone fitted a meter to my supply (without even me asking to - long story :doh:) i decided to switch to being billed by the meter & at the moment it looks like that £500+ will cover me for about 2.5 years :eyebrows:

A definite improvement of £500+ a year...

[Spectral Morn]

Yes :rolleyes: I get a 25% reduction in council tax as i'm the only person living here, not a lot but it helps ;)

The water bill is payed yearly & earlier this year i forked out over £500 for it :eek: However as someone fitted a meter to my supply (without even me asking to - long story :doh:) i decided to switch to being billed by the meter & at the moment it looks like that £500+ will cover me for about 2.5 years :eyebrows:

A definite improvement of £500+ a year...


There are enough people in NI who would fight separate water bills by acts of civil disobedience, refusing to pay bills etc and leaving taps on... that the devolved Government has deferred the issue for another year. There are a few ex (?) IRA guys in our Government now and the rebel streak is very wide in them. They are opposed to water bills, something all the elected parties agreed to at the time of seeking votes but now they are in power many are back tracking. Politicians really are, in many cases, lying back stabbing scum.

Sadly though there has been massive under investment in the NI water (under direct rule) infrastructure for years as Parliament in London has taken the money from the rates bills and kept it. So something will need to be done ?



Regards D S D L

[Reid Malenfant]

Neil, it's pretty much the same here fella, except the difference is the shareholders in the water companies get there fat dividends & pipes keep bursting & bills go up all the time because the companies keep saying they need to invest in new pipes & infrastructure etc :eek:

They just have to keep the shareholders happy :doh: They could invest the damn profit money but noooooo........

:wanker:

[Spectral Morn]

Well the waters off again :(

Only good thing this time is we were able to fill lots of containers so should be okay for a few days;if need be.


Regards D S D L

[aquapiranha]

Well the joy of the snow, ice and rising temperatures have been short lived as we (people of Northern Ireland) now have a more serious problem.....lack of water.

As amazing as it sounds and I can't conceive of how many bursts/leaks could cause this but many of our reservoirs have almost run empty. How that could have been allowed to happen is also staggering.

So many areas of Northern Ireland since this afternoon are now on restricted or rotational water supply (staggered switch off's). We have had no water since this afternoon.

So a modern city like Belfast has no water and NI is like a third world country and we seem to have a water-board run by incompetents. They say the water switch off's is to conserve resources but Why was this allowed to get so critical ? They knew there would be many burst pipes but to allow the water levels in the reservoirs to run so low is imho gross incompetence.

Anyone else anywhere in the UK having a similar problem ?



Regards D S D L

Hi Neil. I am sorry to hear about your water problems. We are lucky enough here to be unaffected, plus we have a local reservoir at Banagher but it must be really hard for those that are. I hope it is all sorted soon. Steve