Ban comes in here tomorrow. Next door have been running their sprinkler since 8am non stop.

I like them, but if they so much as touch the hose after today I’m going full Bertie Smalls.

I assume Super Grass is what they are aiming for? 😉

Thanks to Tory cuts, the police don’t have enough resources for, well, anything. So who is going to enforce the ban?

Anyway, I’m going to water all of my lawns and the paddock, and fill up both of my swimming pools, before the ban comes in.

I have a mate who is nor ally reasonably intelligent and tried to be eco friendly. He has been watering his allotment loads before the ban comes in….

He has been watering his allotment loads before the ban comes in….

This year we’ve switched to these hozelock troughs for our fruit and veg. You put a big growbag on top and essentially the water is sealed in so there’s no water use except what the plants absorb and transpire. They still get through a LOT of water in this weather, they’ll soak through a whole trough in 36h. But at least nothing is wasted either soaking into the ground or evaporating off the surface.

He has been watering his allotment loads before the ban comes in….

I’m confused. Do you think this is a bad thing?

I’m confused. Do you think this is a bad thing?

I’m confused, do you think it’s a good thing?

If it wasn’t for profligate use of resources we wouldn’t need a hosepipe ban.

Deploy the Moles

We have a ‘power shower’ which runs off a hot water tank & takes about 30 seconds to get up to temperature, so I’ve started catching the 1st 30 seconds of water in a bucket which we now use to either flush the loo or chuck on the garden.
Looking at how much water wev’e wasted over the past few years is shaming.

I’ve started flushing my toilet with bottles of Evian before throwing the empty plastic bottles on to a disposable barby I have constantly burning on some nearby open moorland

If it wasn’t for profligate use of resources we wouldn’t need a hosepipe ban.

I’d actually suggest if we didn’t have privatised water companies losing millions of litres every day from leaks we’d not need a hosepipe ban.

Some people seem to value a pretty lawn over seemingly anything else in life. Never mind that it will come back even if totally brown, the lawn must be protected!

I’d actually suggest if we didn’t have privatised water companies losing millions of litres every day from leaks we’d not need a hosepipe ban.

Probably, although I dread to think what the cost to consumers/taxpayers would be to actually fix it all.

And I’ve pondered, seeing as most of the water in the south east comes from underground aquifers, does that mean it’s probably ending up back in the same place?

I was thinking of starting a Fred about this….

The river local to me is a mere trickle compared to its normal flow. The green fields are yellow.

Despite that there are folks watering their lawns (Sisyphos?) and worrying about having a nice clean car…. FFS.

Allotments are fair enough. Your geraniums less so.

It’s crazy.

We all know who’s fault it is…

He has been watering his allotment loads before the ban comes in….

south east comes from underground aquifers, does that mean it’s probably ending up back in the same place?

No.

Those are replenished when it rains. They take years to fill and if we keep using them then they will never refill.

If it wasn’t for profligate use of resources we wouldn’t need a hosepipe ban.

Have we really ended up at a place whereby using water to grow your own food on an allotment is now considered “profligate”?

’ve started catching the 1st 30 seconds of water in a bucket which we now use to either flush the loo or chuck on the garden.
Looking at how much water wev’e wasted over the past few years is shaming.

A mate’s mum is from Africa, she’s been doing this her whole life. It seemed odd in 1980’s Yorkshire – British people had very little concept of water being a scarce resource. It’s different these days!

power shower’ which runs off a hot water tank & takes about 30 seconds to get up to temperature,

Harden up and have a cold shower.

It’s good for your soul, immune system and the environment.

I’d actually suggest if we didn’t have privatised water companies losing millions of litres every day from leaks we’d not need a hosepipe ban.

I agree with the anti-capitalist sentiment completely, but we’ve had one of the driest years on record, never mind a dry summer. It’s been bone-dry with only a few days of rain down here in south Wales since spring.

Many moons ago I worked with a chap who was absolutely obsessed with his mid spec BMW 3 series.

Cleaned the wheels with a tooth brush, tried (and failed) to buy an M badge – “Is it a replacement badge for an M series sir?… oh I see, you want to add the badge to a car that isn’t M series sir?… sorry sir, the badges are not for sale, sir” – that sort of dick head.

Anyway, come the hosepipe ban 20 odd years ago he got pinged for doing his daily wash. So he took to hosing the car down whilst it, and he, were inside a closed single garage. The knob.

I agree with the anti-capitalist sentiment completely, but we’ve had one of the driest years on record, never mind a dry summer. It’s been bone-dry with only a few days of rain down here in south Wales since spring.

Agreed. You can moan about lack of investment all you like, but it just hasn’t rained. Plus around where I am on the Sussex coast vast amounts of new homes are going up, but think I read it’s 20 years since the last new reservoir was built in the UK.

I agree with the anti-capitalist sentiment completely, but we’ve had one of the driest years on record, never mind a dry summer. It’s been bone-dry with only a few days of rain down here in south Wales since spring.

Fear not, we’re going to BPW in a few weeks. Guaranteed a deluge while we’re there.

I’m confused, do you think it’s a good thing?

If it wasn’t for profligate use of resources we wouldn’t need a hosepipe ban.

Wow, not often that vegetables are viewed as excessive consumption.

Where exactly do you think food comes from?

Hint: I’m not looking for the name of a supermarket here.

the ground in the SE is so dry subsidence is a real problem.. its splitting the water mains everywhere.

if everyone had watered their lawns, the ground wouldnt be so dry and the water mains wouldnt split.

obvz

He has been watering his allotment loads before the ban comes in

Is this to do with the Israel/ Palestine cease fire?

think I read it’s 20 years since the last new reservoir was built in the UK

Near us, SE water bought a load of land near Canterbury to turn into a reservoir in the 70s. Only now are they thinking of starting to action it.

Recently the only water supply to the isle of Sheppey burst and we’ve had several local villages with restricted supplies due to leaks. While this was going on, before a pipe ban was mooted, SE water sent letters asking users to restrict use

I’d actually suggest if we didn’t have privatised water companies losing millions of litres every day from leaks we’d not need a hosepipe ban.

If it helps we have a (kind of) nationalised Scottish Water – and still have water shortages this year. In bloody Scotland.

Summer in Scotland

Perhaps if the Environment Agency hadn’t prevented Thames Water from building a new reservoir the southeast would be slightly less short of water.

“”Thames Water did propose a reservoir at Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 2006, plans for which were opposed by the Environment Agency on the grounds that it was not needed. It has remained on hold ever since. Proposals for a national water grid have similarly come to nothing. In 2006, the Environment Agency scotched the idea, saying it would cost £15 billion to build a pipeline capable of bringing 1,100 megalitres a day from the North Pennines to London, and that building reservoirs would be more cost-effective.”

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/water-woes-whos-to-blame-for-the-shortages

This one I presume. Latest start date 2025 if they can get the go ahead.

Abingdon Reservoir – Act Now!

I went past a small new build development today. I could hear the ticking sprinkler going, I think the builder is actually watering the weeds beyond the plot to help it screen a bit of no man’s land to the existing houses as much as the lawn, as two weeks I had to make a timed move to get through without getting soaked.

The southeast water site says one exemption is 28 days from the installation of a new lawn, I know it was lawn two weeks ago so if I’m still working there in two weeks I’ll see if its still going!

Chance of a shower here next week so I’ve just diverted the main house downpipe onto the garage roof as that will go to the water butts, normally I don’t bother as they just overflow after an hour of rain otherwise.

Ban with South East Water does not cover watering new lawns or the filling of fetid sex ponds – fill your boots

The elephant in the room is water leakage. I worked in the water industry 1997-2001 and the amount of leakage was frankly ridiculous. Things haven’t improved that much since then.

Also why do we use treated drinking water to wash cars, water veg beds, flush the toilet?  It’s sheer madness and always has been !!

I hosepiped my allotment last night via the river that runs at the bottom of it, using a drill-powered water pump.
Am I pure evil?
The rest of the allotment water via baths dotted around the site connected to the mains. There has always been a hosepipe ban at our allotments.

To offset it, in our house we’ve adopted the ‘if it’s yellow, let it mellow’ approach to the lavvy.

Its really really hard to build new reservoirs. They have been trying to get the Havant Thicket site built for years and years and its had planning objection after objection. So yes the water companies could do hugely better its not 100% there fault.

Oldnpastit up there ^^
Only 2 swimming pools? Hope they’re both 50 mtr; if not, you’re letting down the STW subscribers team!
As for watering allotments, are they in any way exempt from hosepipe bans?
If not, why not?
How do they differ from a veg patch at the end of a garden.
I think the regulator will now become much more focussed on water companies’ performance in managing and reducing leaks.

Kinda used to conserving water without thinking too hard about it. The wife grew up in the Bahamas on a little island with no water supply at all. The island still does not have it. When you build you house you make sure you have enough roof area to capture rain to fill the cistern under the house. And then use it very very sparingly.
Old friend of ours there had a filter bed for grey water so he could water the veg garden with it. It’s old school but we really could do with returning to some of those measures because they still work and work well.

I’m confused. Do you think this is a bad thing?

It’s like panic buying. There’s hardly any left, let’s get as much as we can before it runs out!

As for his veggies – is he using up more or less water per courgette than the local farmers? I honestly don’t know.

Also why do we use treated drinking water to wash cars, water veg beds, flush the toilet?

Because having two water pipe networks servicing everyone’s house is too expensive?

I like the mandatory water storage idea though, but again, it’s a big project to retrofit that. With the garden refurb, we’ve created a spot in which we can stick three or for 200l butts which I reckon we’d easily fill in a winter. Just as well because we now have loads of big perennials to water!

I think the regulator will now become much more focussed on water companies’ performance in managing and reducing leaks.

OFWAT are toothless like all regulators. Leakage in water distribution systems has been a huge problem for 40+ years so don’t expect anything to change ‘cos we’ve had 2 heatwaves this year.

Because having two water pipe networks servicing everyone’s house is too expensive?

As a society we should be investing in grey water recycling for these tasks but we don’t. Many people think that we have unlimited free water falling out of the sky ‘cos we live on a wet, windy rock in the NE Atlantic. Sadly it’s not that simple. We can all do our part though

Back from my holidays and had 4 loads of washing. The waste water was all collected and poured over our wilted flowers.
Probably 150 l of water.