Private Water Company Providing Customers With All The Water They Want

Views of Barsham Water Treatment Works and interviews with people still keen to save water during the drought.

Anglia Television reporter David Henshaw stands next to a tank where large volumes of water are spurting from a pipe. He explains that here on the Suffolk/Norfolk border, people have unrestricted use of water and more than they can possibly use, while water use in other areas is limited. Scenes of the water treatment tanks with water spraying from pipes at the East Anglian Water Company Barsham Headworks. The surrounding fields are clearly affected by drought. View from the road to the gate and entrance sign for the water plant. Inside, a man stands at the control panel for Barsham Treatment Works. Interview with Keith Clark, Chief Engineer, who explains that the water needs to be treated to remove iron. Use of water is not being restricted, but the consumers are co-operating. It would not be feasible to pipe the water elsewhere but other companies can source their water from the same chalk aquifer. The camera moves along a road of bungalow homes and gardens. A woman waters the flowers in her garden with a hose pipe. Interviews follow with people aware they are fortunate and still actively recycling water. Two women wearing bikinis say they do feel inclined to save water, and a man says he still uses the washing up water on the garden. The woman with the hosepipe says she doesn’t use it often and recycles the water used in the house for washing and bathing. The two women in bikinis water plants from watering cans.

Featured Buildings

Barsham Water Treatment Works, Barsham, Suffolk

Keywords

Drought; Water Supply; Hot weather; Water treatment; Gardening; Watering; Recycling

Background Information

The hot weather and drought during the summer of 1976 led to water restrictions in many areas.