Dissatisfaction with water authorities is nothing new. In September 1976 the Bideford Gazette reported calls for the resignation of the holders of top jobs in the South West Water Authority. A letter said ‘Let them have their supplies cut off, have no outside help and learn the misery of what they have brought on others’. Some things change and some things stay the same.

At that time standpipes were being erected in the Bideford area. There was a lot of bad feeling about who had water cut off. Stop cocks were difficult to find (some being deliberately concealed) and linked supplies had to be kept on for all the residents if one household was in special need.  The cost of erecting standpipes was over £1 million in 1976 so today’s option of the delivery of bottled water could well be cheaper. In 1976 salt was rubbed into the wound because customers were told that no compensation would be payable.

The authority was pleased to announce that since the introduction of standpipes a reduction of 20% of water consumption had been achieved, and the paper reported that the Chief Environmental Health officer voluntarily turned off his own stop cock and show solidarity with his neighbours. 

The Council’s Chief Executive had his water cut off and reckoned he was the first casualty of the crisis as he suffered a slipped disc while attempting to carry a five-gallon container. The MP Jeremy Thorpe suggested that all water could be reconnected and householders placed on their honour not to draw water between 9am and 9pm. I wonder if that would have worked?

People were cheered by some heavy rain but brought back down to earth by being told that reservoirs would need to be half full before normal service could resume. The Daily Mail condemned the town claiming that Bidefordians ‘continued to indulge in baths, sparkling windows and frequent washdays’.  The Chair of Torridge District Council, Prebendary E P James, was reported to be disgusted by what he termed irresponsible journalism, saying that this was an insult to the people of the area and that visitors had increased usage. Readers pointed out that heath and forest fires in late August had made demands on the water supply.  The lack of new reservoirs was blamed on the opposition of conservationists. Now most of our drinking water is provided directly from rivers.