Basingstoke is braced for ‘water rationing’ according to borough councillor Stephen Reid.
Speaking at a meeting last month, Cllr Reid expressed concern at Southern Water’s plans to introduce higher water prices in the summer using ‘smart meters’. With Basingstoke braced for around a thousand new homes each year up to 2026, the Tory ward councillor believes water companies should not be put under such stress by demands from Westminster.
“High water bills in the summer is the start of water rationing by price,” Cllr Reid told residents in Buckskin. Southern Water, which supplies part of the borough’s area, wants to reduce water consumption per person. It has to do that because otherwise, as our population grows, the water will start to run out. It’s a problem made worse by the Government’s artificially high development targets for this area.
“So this is the start of water rationing. We live in an area of water stress. According to Waterwise, the South East of England has less water available per person that Sudan and Syria and faces droughts on a regular basis.”
South East Water, is producing a plan to identify a range of robust solutions to deliver the extra water that is needed in the region. Cllr Reid continued: “The Government says it is doing this partly because the company has no plan in place to reduce water consumption. The Government knows that it has to ration water to achieve its high growth rates – rationing is the first step, and it is coming.
“Being forced to build almost 1,000 homes a year is bound to put pressures on our essential infrastructures. It’s not just the fresh water supply that’s at risk here. The River Loddon downstream of the Basingstoke Sewage works is already being over-polluted by phosphates. We have to fight the Government’s planning numbers – they mean not just water rationing and polluted rivers but also green fields lost and gridlock on our roads.”
Southern Water responded: “Typically, water use increases in the summer for a number of reasons, including gardening, and the tariff takes that into account.
“We would ask customers to be mindful about the water they use – both in the garden and in the home.”
