THE hose pipe ban is long overdue. The long term shortage of rain is known to all of us; the fall in the river levels has been evident to those of us who live by the Itchen, from late May. So why has it taken Southern Water so long to act?

It is not easy to find out who makes the call, but I gather if is down to the water companies themselves to decide when to limit water use; - and in our case this is Southern Water . This is a worry; It is alarming enough to be told that essential water saving is not in public hands, but in those of commercial companies . It is even more alarming when that company is Southern Water who are proven polluters. Their motive as a company is, of course, profit. Hose pipe use is especially profitable. I get charged for every litre of water I use, so each litre must have its profit element for Southern Water. The greater the use the better. But the hose pipe users pay twice; I am charged once for the supply of water and again for its treatment . Every litre I spread on my vegetable via my hosepipe is assumed by the Southern Water to go down my drain as dirty water in need of treatment; I am charged again. So two charges and two profits to Southern Water. What incentive then is there for Southern Water to limit the amount it abstracts? It has been suggested it did not wish to upset customers, but I have seen little evidence of that attitude in Southern Water; as everyone know who reads the Chronicle will know, the Company has been shown to discharge our waste into our most protected waters on multiple occasions and to have had enormous fines imposed.

I may, of course, be doing the Company an injustice or to have got my facts wrong. If so, it would be good to hear Southern Water’s explanation of why the hosepipe ban has been so slow in coming and what damage has been done in the meantime. There is very little easily accessible online. It would be good to know for instance if they have been asked to stop earlier by environmental bodies, or what monitoring of wildlife has been taking place, or what risk assessments of the impact of the continued abstraction on the Itchen and its valley have been carried out. Only then will be reassured that the delay in imposing this hosepipe ban has been responsibly considered and not driven by profit.

Chris Corcoran,

Finches Lane,

Twyford

IT seems sensible to manage our water use in the current dry spell.

However, there are far better and more sustainable options open to us than simply imposing a hosepipe ban.

READ MORE: Hampshire hosepipe ban: 5 ways to save water

The privatisation of basic services such as water, energy, and transport opened the flood gates to profiteering and excess at the expense of the public.

Southern Water, controlled by Macquarie Bank, an Australian financial institution whose responsibilities are to its shareholders, and which should know a thing or two about operating in water-constrained environments, has little interest in investing in upgrading the infrastructure even though millions of gallons of water are wasted every day from antiquated pipes and a poorly maintained system.

Southern Water’s chief executive pocketed more than £1m last year, including a bonus, despite being ranked the poorest performing water company and having a £90m fine imposed after illegally dumping sewage thousands of times. That was our £90m. That was £90m that could have gone to reducing our water rates or £90m that could have been invested in fixing leaky pipes.

We were told the privatisation of our basic services including water, energy, and transport would ‘release the energy and innovation of the private market’ and deliver improvements at lower costs. Unfortunately, the people who sold that story to the voters and the government of the time were the very same people who are now running these services.

As citizens, we can do our bit to conserve water. In my house we’re putting buckets in showers to catch water that would have gone down plugholes so we can keep our garden alive (a tried-and-tested Australian practice) but this pales into insignificance in the face of the appalling mismanagement and profiteering of Southern Water and its ilk.

We should all be lobbying and voting to put things right at the core of the problem as well as turning off our hosepipes.

Charles Jennings,

Stanmore Lane,

Winchester