Will water be cheaper on Mars than in Scotland?

There are probably heaps of reasons why water bills will go up by an inflation-busting 8.7 per cent in April, bringing the average cost to £532.

Some may console themselves that our water remains the UK’s cheapest. And, yes, Scottish Water did keep increases below inflation during and after the pandemic, and the independent Water Industry Commission for Scotland says the new rise is fine.

However, given everything always seems to go up by more than it used to these days, we surely have a right to feel hard done by. In fact, we’ve half a mind to resurrect our old idea of going to live off-grid in the woods somewhere.

READ MORE: Water scarcity restrictions to have ‘devastating’ impact on Scotland agriculture sector

Unlike on Mars, in Scotland water falls free from the sky (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell) | Getty Images

Or perhaps we’ll buy one of those tickets to Mars where, according to Strathclyde University scientists, we could extract water from the atmosphere and live off that. Then again, planet Earth rather handily does that for us all ready. It’s called ‘rain’.

We await to see just how much the next price rise for stuff that literally falls free from the sky will cost us all. Time for a cup of tea and a grumble over the crossword.