Thames Water Wasting Water

Thames Water is losing 894 million litres of water every day through leaks, as the residents of Adamson Road well know. Last week a burst water main in their street was left unfixed for an entire week. Goodness knows how much water was wasted. And yet Thames Water have imposed a hosepipe ban and are talking about applying for a drought order. As one resident of Adamson Road told me: “It is frankly sickening not to be allowed to use a hosepipe in our gardens and at the same time see enough water being wasted to maintain a tropical rain forest.”

Thames Water recently announced a 31% rise in pre-tax profits to £346.5m. Surely some of that could have been spent on fixing leaks? The main action the company seems to have taken to decrease leaking is to reduce water pressure resulting in serious service problems in many parts of London, especially for those in tower blocks.

I have written to OFWAT, the water regulator, asking them to be a lot tougher on Thames Water in future. But even if they are, we still need to do more as a community and as individuals. That’s why I want to see all new developments in Camden obliged to install rainwater collection systems. I also intend to explore ways to encourage Camden’s households to capture rainwater for use in gardens and toilets. The combination of global warming plus unacceptably poor performance by Thames Water means we have no choice but to take action ourselves.

Dancing keeps you young!

One of our Belsize Lib Dem members, 89 year old Vivian Milroy, is a dancer. Yes, I know, I found it hard to believe as well. But last week I went to see him perform in a show at the Bloomsbury Theatre so I know it's true. Now the really interesting thing about this is that it's part of Camden's Active Health Classes programme (Google: Camden Active Health). For just £1 any Camden resident can take part in dance classes, Tai Chi, chair-based classes or general exercise classes. You can even appear in a dance show in the Bloomsbury Theatre! The classes are aimed at the over 50s, but anyone's welcome. Vivian says he goes four times a week. Good for him, I say. That's clearly what keeps him looking so young!