THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE NATIONAL Water Com-mission's (NWC) motto, 'Water is Life', is in stark contrast to the service it provides, and should not be used by this utility company. Why? Because this organisation does not realise how vitally important the commodity is to the existence of the customers it is supposed to be supplying.
I am now resident in Windsor Castle, Portland, since Sept-ember 2003 and I have never seen a full day's water supply in any one week. A typical day begins with a dry tap, then a rushing wind, followed by sputters at this point, if one is fortunate one might be favoured with a spurt or two. One rushes to have a shower or do the laundry, only to find the water off again. It reluctantly returns after, maybe, ten minutes, but just as one is getting used to running water, off it goes again, much to the annoyance and frustration of everyone. Very often 'bucket showering' has been the only alternative.
In this age of high technology, the NWC claims that it is powerless to correct the problem, only, it seems, in Windsor Castle, Hart Hill and Dover; neighbouring villages do not have this problem. So why punish us for 365 days per year? We have so many rivers in Portland, why must we be deprived, yet asked to pay for such negligence, such sloppiness, and ineptitude.
If the Commission must discontinue the water supply for any reason, then it has a responsibility to truck water to all its customers, and I mean all, those on the plain and those on the hill.
Maybe the NWC should adopt a new motto "We love to collect and love to disconnect." Because we are always paying but not receiving.
Wake up NWC please, please, get your act together 'Water is Life' indeed, but you are taking our lives slowly, by depriving us of the precious commodity.
I am, etc.,
RUTH BISSICK
Windsor Castle P.O.
Portland
