Water Charges

[philistine]

The water charges for our council run allotment site seem excessive are they subject to offwat rules and regs ?

[philistine]

[Ellen K]

How much are they?  Our bill is about £1000 for 60 plots.  You'd think it would be more if you saw how much watering some of our plotholders do.  But we are just charged for the water and not the disposal of it as domestic users are.

[andyswarbs]

I reckon we're paying well under £1000 and that's for 150 plots.  We pay the exact bill Thames Water charge & we monitor the water meter monthly to ensure there are no leaks.

[philistine]

Do any council run sites use the site water meter readings to then charge for water usage

[Ellen K]

Why don't you just ask the council to see the bills, under FOI ?

[sparrow]

We pay ca. £700 for 110 plots over the year. Most of us have at least one water butt attached to the shed, sometimes more.

[philistine]

Our council don't read the site water meters

[andyswarbs]

One year our water charges doubled and had some plotholders accusing some local travellers of theft.  It wasn't theft - it was water leaks.  Staying on top of your water meter is critical to a cost-effective.  Just do it!

[Unwashed]

It's an average, but in a season your typical allotmenteer will use around 1m³ per pole watering from dip-tanks.  That costs around £1, though there's a standing charge too, and if the site is piped with a large bore supply which you need on a large site if the pressure isn't to drop ridiculously low in times of high demand then the standing charge can be really quite high (if you're honest and actually tell the water company).

If you don't have mains-sewerage toilets on site then make sure you not paying for sewerage on the water supply - water companies charge for sewerage on the volume of metered water because they assume a proportion of the supplied water will end up in their sewers, and if you can show that it can't happen then it's much cheaper.

[philistine]

Can anyone tell me how other councils charge for water because on ours as there is very little monitoring and we have a fixed charge covering water used and maintenance therefore there is no incentive for allotmenteers to conserve water

[kt.]

We are on a water meter with annual costs around £1200.  Plotholders are permitted to fill their water butts with a hose but not water their plot using the hose.  (Prevents excessive usage and hogging the taps)

[Borlotti]

Just looking at my allotment bill, and must pay it today.  £13.50 for water, no hoses, but have a water tank to fill watering cans.  Can't really moan about that.