Make a pledge, save a drop
Up until now, I've had a modicum of sympathy for Thames Water. They've spent years getting it in the neck about how much water gets lost through their pipework - 895million litres per day at the last count - when it's not entirely their fault. They have inherited a network of sieve-like water mains that is decades old - much of it is Victorian. Even allowing for their faults as a company, it would be impossible for Thames to fix the lot overnight. Moreover, as discussed previously on spiked, they are making tentative steps towards using new technology in the face of opposition from London mayor Ken Livingstone by proposing Britain's first fully-fledged desalination plant (see Low rainfall, lower horizons by Rob Lyons).
But their latest venture is enough to make me want to flush the toilet - after vomiting into it. 'At Thames Water, we're pledging to beat the drought,' says their new website Don't Be A Drip. 'Calculate how much water you could have saved so far in your life.' After a quick quiz on how you 'waste' water, like leaving the tap running when you brush your teeth, having too many baths, and flushing the loo too often, Thames ask you to make a pledge to stop doing these things.
In the past, to 'take the pledge' meant giving up the evils of drink. Now, Thames are suggesting we give up the evils of normal household activities like washing ourselves in the manner of our choosing or flushing after we've been to the toilet. This preachy, near-religious notion is all part of the steady stream of ideas which suggest that the biggest problem the world faces is people and our apparently selfish habits. The message is that we should rein in our consumption, leave a smaller 'footprint'. It's an endless and insidious drip, drip, drip.