United Utilities sewer works

Following up our story about United Utilities – Hosepipes and Floods on Wednesday – where we asked whether the sewer works in Audlem promised last year would ever be carried out, some interesting information has leaked out of the water utility's head office.

We are told that it's not unusual for UU to say that a job will be carried out yet work does not get underway. This, we assume, is probably to keep the official water industry target checkers happy at the likes of Ofwat, Ofdrip or Ofglug. After all, we've become accustomed to announcements of good intentions being as good as a job completed!

TV coverage of the awful floods across parts of the North West are now always accompanied by references to the now seemingly ridiculous hosepipe ban. UU must be wondering why they hadn't delayed implementing their ban a few days until St Swithin's Day on 15th July. According to tradition, the weather on his feast day will continue for forty days. So far, it has!

At least UU must be saving money on the spy planes and helicopters that were expected to deploy across the region seeking out suspiciously green lawns as the whole area is now as green, and wet, as the Emerald Isle across the Irish Sea.

Perhaps the money saved on all that surveillance could be used to sort out the connection from Moseley's Yard to the main sewer, promised for the summer of 2009. Or, maybe, that leak from UUHQ is a true reflection of what goes on.

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