Richard Franceys

Following on from the recent ‘Brandy and Soda’  blog, in response to a question this note provides some additional information, all in the context of water and sanitation history in England demanding that 'everything' was supported by cost-reflective tariffs/local council rates for many many years. If the local councillors thought the local 'rates' (property taxes) could not fund the improvements …. they did not get done. Any decisions to be made with respect to capex were t

In this CapEx small town example, E&W, Ampthill, 120 years ago, the above comment was included in the local newspaper's reporting of a Council meeting from a Mr Marshall [ 'a civil engineer, of London' ]. He "thought that £3,150 [$515,000 2020 PPP USD prices, $260 per person ] would be a reasonable cost, but he should call the [also reported] expenditure of £8,000 [$1,300,000; $655 per person ] for a water supply for 2,000 persons, 25% of whom would never take the water [cont

Perhaps an interesting comparison to the most recent figures from the CapEx of England and Wales: "Average annual investment in Italy’s water systems has risen from €37.55 per capita in 2018 to an estimated €107.1 per capita in 2025 , largely thanks to EU funding under the post-pandemic recovery and resilience plan. This totalled €12.4 billion last year, but looks set to fall to $3.5 billion next year." Source : “Italy will need to find some money of its own to pay for water”

Which appears to be the name given historically, 100 years ago or so, in my local area for in-ground rainwater harvesting tanks. And to...