A film by Leslie Franke and Herdolor Lorenz, 59 minutes, 2004

 

Usually, people only appreciate the most important goods when they are lacking. Water is an example. We simply open the faucet and instantly our most important and most controlled good flows – reliable, cheap and ready to use. That this can't be necessarily taken for granted is not only true for the 'third world'. Susanne Baker lives in London, on the 5th floor of a building. The first thing she does in the morning is checking if water flows out of the faucet. If not, it's going to be a hassle. Maybe the neighbour on the third or the second floor has water ... The water supply in England was privatized in 1989. The maintenance of the pipes is too costly and not profitable. Thus, half of the drinking water seeps away in London's underground. The dilapidated supply lines that date from Victorian times tend to burst with regular water pressure. Therefore, Thames Water (RWE) lowered the pressure, and as a consequence the precious good is not able to always and everywhere rise to the higher floors. At the beginning of this year, it was announced that the pressure would be decreased by one more bar.