| Down the Plughole: why is our water so expensive? |
|
|
|
Page 1 of 8 Cornish people currently face the highest water rates in the country. A Londoner, with an average weekly wage of £680, can expect to pay around £275 annually. Meanwhile his Cornish cousin pays £480 (or an incredible £650 if his home is unmetered) for clean water on a paltry average wage of £329 per week. Is Cornwall footing a national bill for clean water? '  Photo by Polly Martin. At the time Cornish World went to press, Cornwall was awaiting the latest annual rise in water rates from South West Water, the private company that deals with clean water, sewerage, and clean bathing water for the region. Before privatisation, it has to be said that the picture for Cornwall’s water looked pretty bleak. According to South West Water’s own figures, in the year 1990-91, 40 per cent of sewage was discharged with little or no treatment, which meant 28 of the region’s bathing waters failed as a result. Since then, South West Water has spent a staggering £1.5 billion on its Clean Sweep project to improve the region’s bathing waters and sewerage network. Now, all 144 bathing regions in the South West meet the mandatory standard set by the European Union. The result is an increasing number of visitors from both the UK and abroad coming to Cornwall to enjoy its beautiful and clean coastline. According to the Cornwall Tourist Board, in 2002 and 2005, visitors topped 5 million, compared to 3.4 million in 1992. Chief executive of South West Tourism, Malcolm Bell, said: "Without Clean Sweep, the tourist industry would have been destroyed. Today our bathing water quality is first class and the South West is attracting tourists on the strength of its reputation as a clean and green destination." But at whose cost? |
||||||||||