MORE than 2,000 years ago, Rome's best-known playwright Titus Maccius Plautus wrote: "The day, water, sun, moon, night - I do not have to purchase these things with money."

Well, Mr Plautus, things have moved on a bit since then. You can still enjoy the day, night, moon and sun - but water you have to pay for.

And, if Severn Trent's latest business plan is accepted by Government regulator Ofwat, we're all going to be paying a lot more.

Of course, we do a lot more with our water now than in Plautus's day.

From the clean drinking water out of our taps, to the somewhat dirtier water flushed out of our toilets, there is a vast amount of infrastructure that needs to be maintained.

We like our water cleaned, filtered, cleaned again, bought to our door and taken away again.

We like our sewerage in place and our waste treated with care. All this costs money.

When Severn Trent announced its draft business plan last September, chairman of Midlands watchdog WaterVoice Central, Sir James Perowne, said: "Customers' money needs to be spent wisely."

He was not impressed with the planned water bill rises.

Now, the water company's final business plan includes a rise in prices greater than that predicted last year. And this from a company that reports on its own website a pre-tax profit last year of more than £180m.

However, if we want the sort of water quality - and quality of service - that we have come to expect, this comes at a price.