Over the last few years, as utility bills have pushed more and more of us onto the breadline, and increasing numbers are falling over the edge into destitution, Hastings has had numerous problems with both electricity and water supplies. Water is the big issue just now.
In my part of town, the taps ran dry on Thursday and as I sit here typing, it’s Sunday morning and they are saying our supply will probably come back by the end of today. Initially, they calculated they had left around 31,000 Hastings households without water and as a result, they set up three stations handing out bottled water. That’s one per ten thousand. When the roads around those three stations became unmanageably crowded, they announced they were working hard to set up a fourth.
Now I am far from being the most vulnerable person in town – I have a garden, a water butt and a fair bit of camping experience but what I don’t have is a car, and every one of those water stations was at least a two mile walk away. As ‘courtesy’ services go, that really wasn’t brilliant.
There was a “priority service” whereby they would deliver the water to people who’d signed up as being unable to come and collect, but it was unpredictable and judging by comments on social media, delays caused quite extensive stress and discomfort. As a result, those of us who are relatively able-bodied would not have used it for fear of increasing delays for those in worse predicaments. In fact, as with the COVID situation a few years back, there was a small army of citizens busying about the town finding those in need, picking up water for them and coming up with brilliant ideas to mitigate washing and toilet problems.
Southern Water are now grudgingly saying they will compensate businesses but all of us have lives to lead, many have jobs to go to and quite a few of us things like skin conditions – all circumstances where laundry and bathroom obstacles are serious issues. On my personal “not good enough” account, I will be informing Southern Water about the time used up getting water, the time and energy it took to think up, prepare and clean up after minimum-water meals, and money spent on a spare bed set and other supplies for paying guests because I could not provide my usual laundry and cleaning services.
Let me summarize what’s wrong with Southern Water’s grudging offer…
Businesses
Compensating “local businesses” “on a goodwill basis” (that means, without accepting responsibility for their troubles) “in a fair and proportionate way” (does that mean taking into account a hard winter with high bills and the consequences of flooding to cope with?) “after the incident…. has been fully resolved” (meaning don’t rush us, we’re busy).
This is the May Bank Holiday weekend. It is the first and biggest earner of the year for many local businesses. The tone of that offer suggests to me that a heck of a lot of businesses have been contacting them with “how, what and when” enquiries, to which Southern Water have responded as though telling kids off for clamouring all at once for sweeties.
The rest of us
We are not only angry and worried about the last four days. We are also aware that we’ve been over-paying for water ever since services were privatized and that those services do not appear to have been properly maintained and backed up. Whilst these private companies have managed to maintain and in many cases increase shareholder dividends, profits and CEO pay, they have not been putting enough back into infrastructure maintenance and development.
I know companies will respond to such accusations with impressive little set speeches and power-point slides with lots of ££££££ on them but in Hastings, the evidence has been in front of us for a long time, in the form of floods, overwhelmed storm drains, long-drawn out roadworks, the apparently eternal presence of “temporary” leaky, noisy diesel pumps in the park, water outages and regular and alarming sewage-dumping at sea. For a coastal tourist town, this is probably the most terrifying problem of them all. That’s why many citizens are already signed up to the bills boycott. If you aren’t, please have a read and think about whether you are able to join in now…
For those who aren’t in a position to join the boycott, please get emailing. This is the time to write to Southern Water listing the problems they’ve caused you (not just this week – all of them), and to write to your councillors and your MP, asking them to act on our behalf and challenge Southern Water’s utterly unacceptable practices.
Tell them that our next water bill should say NOTHING TO PAY and should come with a fulsome apology and an evidenced summary of what Southern Water are now doing to improve their back-up and emergency services.
There have been more than a few demos and petitions aimed at Southern Water already, because of the floods and the sewage issues. If you haven’t been involved in any so far, please join the next ones when they come around.
Consider joining one of the campaign groups for national utility services. The UK is one of the few countries in the world daft enough to trust private companies with water, sewage and drainage services. Let’s get the government to change their minds about inflicting the abysmal, over-priced services of water privateers on us.
And finally…
This floated past me on Facebook and reminded me of those halcyon days last week, when we had water on tap. Imagine what it’s like being in Palestine right now where not only do you have to queue for water, but Israeli snipers try to kill you when you do – or in those places hit by climate crisis, where people who’ve always had to walk two miles for water now walk those two miles and find the well is dry.
This may seem like a wandering off topic but it isn’t. We live in a world run by ruthless corporations who don’t mind inflicting anything from minor inconveniences to widespread death and destruction on the rest of us. Meanwhile, the Labour Party have gone back on their former commitment to bring water back under government ownership and our Tory MP is saying the current crisis in Hastings is just one of those things. Let’s not let them get away with it any longer.
It’s gone midday Southern Water, I still have no water coming out of my taps and I am one of thousands in Hastings who are not going to tolerate this.
***It is now 9pm, and still no water here.***
***Now midday on Monday and STILL no water here. Since last THURSDAY. Someone on soc media has just been effing and blinding on Southern Water’s page about all these area names they seem to have invented. It sure confused the @~#’@~#’ out of me. He pointed out we’d invented post codes some time ago……***
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Dear Reader,
Times are hard, and so the articles on this site are freely available but if you are able to support my work by making a donation, I am very grateful.
Cheers,
Kay
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Kay Green 