From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
By Paul Homewood
h/t Paul Kolk
Smart water meters must be made compulsory across all households to protect the UK against climate change, the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) has warned.
The government agency is urging ministers to ramp up the rollout of devices, as it claims water supplies were becoming one of the country’s biggest challenges.
Without smart water meters, the NIC said the UK is at heightened risk of drought.
In its latest report, NIC officials said water companies should have the power to compel all homes to accept smart meters as part of a “concerted campaign to reduce water demand”.
The UK used about 10bn litres of water a day in 1960 but that has since risen to around 15bn.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/05/16/force-smart-meters-households-risk-water-shortages
Meanwhile, back in the real world:
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When, a few years ago, our water company told us we MUST have a water meter, the guys who came to install it discovered that we share a supply pipe and stop-cock with two other houses (not un-typical in Victorian housing).
They decided it would be far two expensive to dig up the front gardens of 3 houses to try to find where the pipes diverged and, despite having been so insistent previously about the need for a meter, the company abandoned the idea and put us on an “assessed tariff” as opposed to the old “rateable value of the house” calculation used previously. Our water bill went down by 60%!
As with all things (well, most), economics rules…
I should explain for our US and Canadian readers that “rateable value” was an historical, notional figure based on what the house could be rented out for; it was used to assess local taxation but was replaced some years ago for this purpose..
Ooops! Correction: “too expensive”.
I only found out at my old house that there was a water meter on the shared supply when they turned off the water as the offices next door were empty and shortly to be demolished. Turned out that they had been charged for my water use as well their own while I was on a water rate for years. The water company policy was to fit a meter when the ownership changed so they wrote to me telling me this when I sold even though the property was to be demolished and replaced by two new houses.
You can’t fix stupid!
“compulsory across all households”
Towards the end of last year Thames Water (TW) carried out major works in the streets around here installing water meters where none previously existed. As to whether these meters are ‘smart’ or not I do not know as they spoke solely of water meters, period.
The old system was a property based rating system with payment for water on the one hand and waste disposal on the other. Had it not worked they would have gone out of business decades ago. But here’s the thing, unlike gas and electricity meters, [urban] water meters are not situated on the property. They are located by the feed valve under the pavement ‘outside’ the property boundary. So, in cities at least, you cannot avoid having a water meter; whatever its mental state might be. Spot the valve cover…
https://www.thameswater.co.uk/media-library/home/help/emergencies/how-to-turn-your-water-on-and-off/outside-stop-valve-covers.webp
Everything utilitywise is being made less and less affordable, bit by bit. Nevermind that we haven’t built a single resevoir for decades; despite a surging rise in population. It’s much easier to restrict usage through pricing and pocketing the share dividends. Of course, you can only take out the dividends while funds last…
“Sky News on Wednesday reported that some of the company’s shareholders were expected to quit the board after they refused to inject more than 3 billion pounds ($3.79 billion) of equity.”
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/thames-water-investors-quit-board-after-bailout-fails-sky-news-says-2024-05-15/
“Without smart water meters, the NIC said the UK is at heightened risk of drought.”
A blatant and obvious lie.
“water meters are not situated on the property.”
Down here in NSW they are just inside the property boundary, and it is the owner’s responsibility to keep them accessible for reading.
I’m sure we will have another drought some time soon… but this year most certainly hasn’t been !
“Down here in NSW they are just inside the property boundary”
Then, in theory, you can resist? I hope so, anyway.
You can resist if you like but can you exist without water. I don’t particularly care as we have no dog in this fight, we’re on a well some 300 ft deep.
What do you mean by “resist”.. against what ??
Water infrastructure is expensive.
I have no issues with an end-user pays system.
Australia is something else
There might be 40 wet years before we get that drought!
https://www.authorea.com/doi/full/10.1002/essoar.10510770.1
“Two sites in adjacent catchments located in eastern NSW provide hydrological data over 200 years since European settlement: (a) height of the Hawkesbury River at Windsor, within the Sydney Basin (HR); (b) level of the ephemeral Lake George, sited 100 km inland (LG). HR has experienced 43 moderate to major floods since 1799 with the timing of floods grouping into approximate 40-year segments of greater or lesser flood frequency. LG has a reconstructed history of annual levels (Short et al, 2020) which shows obvious spacings with range 50 to 80 years.”.
Lake George was brimful when I first saw it in 1977. Soon after that it became grazing land for 40 years. By a couple of years ago it was full again. Looks like we have started the 40-year wet part of the cycle.
Actually, there probably will be some dry years in the next 40, it’s just that the wet periods are wetter on average.
“Nevermind that we haven’t built a single resevoir for decades; despite a surging rise in population.”
Some water companies have tried – have you any idea of the resistance to such schemes? There is a new one being built outside of Portsmouth.
“have you any idea of the resistance to such schemes”
The Malthusians are out there
A ‘smart’ water meter has an electronic reporting unit attached so that it can be read by someone driving down the road rather than by someone having to open the lid in the pavement.
So a smart meter will not reduce usage compared to an ordinary meter and in fact may lead to increased usage. If the meter fittings are loose (or are damaged) and leak then a smart meter will just report higher usage. With an ordinary meter the reader would, hopefully, notice that the pit is full of water and report it.
The electronic reporting unit uses, AFAIUI, Zigbee technology. This is similar to Bluetooth in many respects but uses less power and, again AFAIUI, the power comes from a tiny turbine in the water.
Yes, they need to get their stories straight. Everyone else is claiming its CO2 that is causing the problem.
Drought is a metrological event how the hell does water meters protect against that ?
This might protect against some of the efects of drought ie runnig out of potable water for example
Reporter needs to learn basic English to start with
WTF is a smart water meter ???
The English could become like the french wash once a month weather they need it or not
Are gardens now forbidden ???
All this is coming out of pomgolia or POHMgolia
<i>become like the french</i>
Hard to imagine an end to arm pit shaving etc here.
I wonder what the meter’s IQ is? 🙂
A smart meter is the step sister of a smart phone.
Glad you posted. Saved me spending electrons.
I’d guess that a Smart Meter makes sure you pay more for the water you receive.
I would rather have an Accurate Meter.
USA Precipitation NOAA’s Climate at a Glance
Interesting trend line…about 7% since 1895…the same as the increase in water vapor pressure with a 1 degree temperature increase.
And hardly a recipe for drought.
Drought? Didn’t they just announce that the UK has had the wettest 18 month period on record? I’m starting to think these people are untrustworthy.
You could well be right….
Don’t worry, 3 or 4 days without rain in the UK brings the “droughters” out of their closets. 😉
Regarding saving water- the other day I brought my wife to a local medical clinic. While waiting 40 minutes for the doctor to show up- she wanted to wash her hands and get a drink in the treatment room’s sink. Of course the sink didn’t have faucets. It’s one of those fancy, magic sinks that you wave your hands in front of – that then gives you about 5 seconds of cold water for about 4 seconds. No matter how much she and I waved our hands – we got no water. We complained to someone in the hall who got a maintenance guy to look at it. He said, “the batteries are shot- I’ll need to replace them LATER”. Batteries! You need batteries to make the dam sink work for 4 seconds. And, in a medical clinic! Is that nuts or what?
For one thing, Wokeachusetts is not short of water. All reservoirs and lakes are filled to the top- even the Quabbin Reservoir in the middle of the state that sends water to Boston- which has not filled in decades. So, what the hell are they accomplishing by restricting water use- IN A DOCTOR’S OFFICE. It’s bad enough to find these magic sinks in a Walmart or any other store, but in a doctor’s office, it’s malpractice. Might make sense in the arid southwest but not in cold, wet New England. It’s because the clinic is run by the Wokeachusetts state government. Each staff person at this clinic, after their name, gives their pronouns. Magic sinks and pronouns! This climate terrified state is becoming a huge lunatic asylum.
I think anyone with a brain larger than a grape should give the US medical establishment a very wide berth…
The U.S. medical establishment is dismissing a prestigious science report sponsored by the British government that is very critical of transgender medical claims
…
The report, helmed by former president of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health Dr. Hillary Cass, was conducted over four years and implemented a systemic review of the scientific studies on transgenderism. But Cass and her researchers also met with thousands of young patients and their families, adults who had transitioned, advocacy groups, clinics, doctors, and even those who later realized transgendering was a bad idea and had detransitioned.
…
the U.S. medical establishment seems to have refused to even consider the lack of evidence that transgendering children is an advisable approach to gender dysphoria in minors. Indeed, when the Times contacted the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), they blew off the Cass report and insisted that they stand by their bowing to radical transgenderism
…
The Endocrine Society was even more direct, telling the Times that “we stand firm in our support of gender-affirming care,” which they claim is “needed and often lifesaving.”
https://www.breitbart.com/health/2024/05/15/u-s-transgender-industry-rejects-warnings-from-british-science-report/
You lucky people.
Presumably some kind of infection control measure, possibly Covid influenced, that has no practical effect in the real world.
See here: About Handwashing | Clean Hands | CDC
Follow the directions at “How It Works” 🙂
I remember once in a public restroom the sink had one of those touchless faucets.
The problem was that you had to have a hand close to the sensor and the water stopped as soon as you moved your hand away. But to get your hand close enough to activate it, your hand was too far away from the water to get wet. So you could only wash your hands one hand at a time!
That funny story made my day! 🙂
What’s the sound of one hand washing itself?
“Splish” instead of “Splish-Splash”?
(But maybe that’s only if you’re trying to take a bath.)
Solution:
Something for everyone to love. Something for everyone to hate. Let the moaning begin.
Meters have never been necessary – at least not until the fake climate breakdown turned up.
Where I live here in the US, the sewer bill is based on the water meter.
A rather frugal friend of mine had a second water meter installed after the lines that ran to his outside spigots.
He still paid for the total amount of water he used on his water bill but he fought for and won his sewer bill being based on the second meter. The water he used for his lawn and flowers didn’t go down the sewer!
With the leaks that Thames Water have been ‘committed to fixing’ every year but every year the losses just get worse, I would suspect we actually need proper regulators appointed for the purpose of ensuring customers get value for money from their monopoly suppliers. Water should never have been privatised and we are continuously living out all the very problems that were stated would happen at the time – even the drought issue!!!..
I sympathise with them to some degree, some people won’t allow access short of a court order. And believe me that takes months.
Do you have a legal right to the water? Simply disconnecting people who don’t consent would be easy.
No. You have to pay for water
Are you not paying for the service
I seem to remember that when the water supply was privatised, replacing the “crumbling Victorian infrastructure” was promised as job #1 for Thames Water. 40 odd years later they’re still patching up water mains failures on the fly. At this rate, job #2 should start sometime around 2739.
If it wasn’t for rampant immigration, and the fact, that the utilities were sold off to private entities, we wouldn’t have any problem.
As the Thames water fiasco, has revealed, 40 years of little investment, with an emphasis on increasing profits, to pay big dividends to shareholders, and big fat cat salaries.
So there we have it folks, the control knob on climate change, is massive salaries and dividends, the NIC has ruled so.
Main charge on my Hunter Water bill is the Sewer Services charge.
Actual water usage is only about 20% of the bill.
What exactly does a “smart water meter” do.
Is it just one that can be read from a passing car.
Or do they really intend for them to be able to be turned off by some order by a petty pimpled clerk behind a desk somewhere ??
“Is it just one that can be read from a passing car”
Yes
The coastal wind turbines certainly reduce the summer advection from ocean to land. Advection is already declining across the NH as the land mass warms up faster than the oceans due to the increasing summer solar intensity. That means the temperature difference between ocean and land reverses in summer and ocean advection reduces.
Removing trees to add solar farms reduces atmospheric moisture over land and the re-engineering of climatic conditions causes greater extremes. Often referred to as unintended consequences.
UK is too densely populated to be extracting power from the climate system at a significant level without harming the local climate. The harm may be more noticeable across the Channel than the Islands.
I have never seen a proper analysis of the available global wind resource. There are not even estimates of the total power level at any point in time. It is assumed an infinite resource but the convective engines that power it work at low Carnot efficiency. How long did it take for the current wind energy to wind up. If it was stopped completely at day zero, how long it it take to be up to full energy again – a day, a week, a month, a year, a decade? Is wind energy really free? Can it be extracted without environmental impact?
It would be fairly simple to fake data into the smart meter so it appears that the resident is using X amount of water. A signal/logic analyzer would reveal the data protocol used, and then a PLC could provide the “acceptable” data. PLCs are quite inexpensive now. I’m sure this sort of informaton will get published.
In the US, most people never use more than the minimum charge anyway unless they have a leak, fill a pool, or run in-ground sprinklers.
I suppose that’s true, but in some areas, such as southern California, the demand has outstripped the capacity of the aging reservoirs. The “minimum charge” is rising rapidly, and the “leaders” are blocking expansion of reservoir capacity that could capture the large amount of water that falls during wet years.
All because they are to cheap / lazy to employ a meter reader
Reservoirs, desalination, filtration, sewage treatment, water management …So many options, only one solution: punitive control of people.
Betting (with COVID experience) that if there were even believed to be a crisis, the public would self limit with no need for smart meters. A bigger crisis than that? Then hang the bureaucrats for not building the reservoirs in the first place.
They are confusing climatic “drought” with water supply infrastructure, which are actually different items. If you can put in meters instead of building a dam, you can save a lot of bucks. This is a different mentality than “if we build another dam, we can sell a lot more water”. The results depend on who is in charge to exercise their thought processes….
I bet they don’t take into account the water companies who waste .millions of gallons of water due to there own water leaks. You can expect some leaks obviously but using “smart” water meters ! Come on. Beware of anything that starts with “smart” !
I suspect the real reason is related to this article – https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/05/17/thames-water-is-worthless-says-biggest-investor/
To ensure the government – or potential future investors – can make Thames Water profitable again, have the customers pay through the nose whenever the sun is shining. Surge pricing on water from June to August, here we come!
How about compulsory smart people in government and on committees?
Wake up. Have some coffee. You are dreaming.
France, where water meters have been in-situ for longtemps, started to upgrade them to ‘smart meters’.
These were in fact electronic which allowed the meter-reader to place a probe connected to his machine on a touch pad on top of the meter to obtain the reading instead if grovelling about down a hole trying to read the numbers.
Apart from that they function in the same as the old meters.
More load on the grid, though.
And the other issue is the customer needs to be able to verify a reading
So the government has an unlimited increase in migration to the UK, but is surprised that total water usage has gone up?
We don’t need all the migrants and if that is stopped, we don’t need compulsory water metering either.
Address the root cause, don’t punish the innocent for your ridiculous policies, politicians.
Definitions! Yet again, we are struck with the fact that “drought” has many definitions and many metrics, thus, the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) claim seems nutty.
What the NIC means is that “there will not be enough potable water to meet domestic demands”. They use the word “drought” — which is, in the potable water business, appropriate. But it is confusing to many, who think that “drought” only applies to “not enough rain”.
Of course, if there is a shortage of potable water, the solution is to increase the supply to meet demand. Humans don’t control the weather (amount of rain) but they do control water reservoirs which keep supply up to meet demand.
The UK doesn’t need smart water meters it needs more reservoirs and better infrastructure.
In a pinch, citizen cooperation (“Please conserve water”) campaigns usually suffice.
If there is a drought of draught beer . . . never mind.
If there was drought of draught beer then all the “solutions” would make even less sense.
Maybe if they used less water to wash the solar panels…..
So now they want to electrify water.
Just think about it before responding.
Shocking idea, isn’t it !! 🙂
Since when do politically appointed commissioners become “experts”?
If that were true, they would have solved all water distribution problems years ago and had ready reserves to accommodate the increase in the usage that occurred.
I mean, solving future problems before they manifest is what “experts” do, isn’t it?
In a saner world, yes.