Timothy Murphy writes:

Probably OT, but my attention was drawn by a posting on water
meters, and it made me wonder again why water meters are not a
standard part of the water supply?

They are at the supply end (and at various points in the supply
network). A cynic might suggest that water companies would prefer not
to have ubiquitous metering at the consumer end because it might draw
attention to the amount of water lost through all the leaks that they
consider unprofitable to repair.

Every year one reads of water shortages in parts of the UK (not so
much in Ireland, but it is not unknown here). One would have
thought a charge by water usage would be an obvious response.

That depends on how much is charged per unit and the threshold beyond
which people are prepared to consider changing their usage.

If people were charged more for their water in order to regulate their
usage, they might expect the money to be spent on the construction of
a `national grid' for water rather than diverted into fat cats'
pockets, too.

[...]

Are water meters inordinately expensive?
Or do they have some disadvantage?

I'd quite like a water meter (or, more to the point, for my bill to
reflect actual usage), but live in a block of flats with shared riser
located inconveniently for meter reading. Can a meter be fitted in
such a setup without expensive re-engineering of the supply? The
water company web site is unhelpfully vague...

--
Mark