Wasting water in a heatwave. Private schools keeping grounds green with sprinklers..

Come on. Private schools’ sprinklers are irrelevant to the subject of abuse of water restrictions. There are relatively few of them for a start, compared to state schools, car washes, cricket clubs, golf courses and so on, and it may be that only a small number of those few schools are actually using hosepipes to water grass.

So why have a thread about private schools and water?

I should say that I have no motive for defending private schools. I went through state as did all my children. I just find the MN obsession with their supposed iniquities amusing.

In this case the school is being “jumped on” because it is not following the rules that we are all expected to follow in the current circumstances. Its role in the imposition of Satanic Rule is best kept for another thread.

Same. New lawn cost me £200 for 30 rolls of turf. There is no way I'm letting mine go brown. I have been showering at least 3 times a day to cool down, so I have put my shower down to 2 quick showers and use my third shower to water the grass. I tried using the watering can but must get through at least the same. It's quicker n easier with the hose.

I’m sure I read the other day that it’s ok to water new turf with the hose for so many weeks after it’s laid.

You have to love the private school bashing... Do you know the source of the water? If it's not coming from the mains, it's fine.

Water companies knew for decades climate change was coming yet refused to invest in water infastructure, green tech for desalination and rainwater harvesting amongst a myriad of options to plan for water security. Our govt can't just keep building homes where the sewage and water systems are already broken and home owners currently there are paying for a service that doesn't work. It is WATER not something we should be gambling with by leaving up to global businesses. If we were still under EU laws they would have taken them to CJEU for risking life over the last few years, as they did prior to Brexit, but now we have no one in our corner and the govt needs to take control back.

That’s not true - only recently Portsmouth Water have built an 80 billion litre reservoir in Hampshire!!

https://www.portsmouthwater.co.uk/new-reservoir/

Ah, but at our school they play rounders on the front lawns once or twice in the summer term so they are sports fields 🫠

YABU.

I have more sympathy with car washes. And in some areas there is no hosepipe or sprinkler ban anyway. But yeah, school watering grass in a heatwave is ridiculous.

I don’t know why people jump on private schools at every opportunity. The operate under the same rules as everyone else.

Because on MN private schools are considered a front for wealthy Illuminati and satanism. And a secret network promoting ultra-processed foods and unfashionable Roman sandals. Bad all round in the MN universe.

While I agree the need for hosepipe bans is unreasonable in the UK, is the island bit relevant? We can't use sea water for the things we want water for (except, perhaps, saltwater swimming pools).

As an example, you cannot play cricket on a dried out wicket. It’s simply not safe. I don’t know any cricket clubs/schools watering their outfields though, unless they have boreholes etc.

Theres a huge new build mini mansion near me with a two foot strip of grass along the front wall. I cycle past it and its been heavily watered every single morning, water running over the road from it. There are some really entitled arseholes out there. Leave the water for the farmers.

I think they are legally allowed to water sports pitches. Morally it's more questionable. It's the summer holidays and kids can still play football on a dry pitch in September.

However, private schools are businesses, and a big part of their business offering is their extracurricular options. A dried-out pitch might put off parents ("let's not go with this one, dear, the pitches at St Swithin's look much nicer"). So they are probably considering that.

I think you’ve missed my point. I understand why the hose pipe ban is there. Private schools are subject to the same rules as everyone else. If the poster thinks they are breaching those rules, she can report them. However, I’d be surprised if a school was stupid enough to do that. It’s likely that they are either watering sports pitches (which they’re allowed to do under health and safety grounds, the same as other sports pitches), or they have a borehole/rainwater harvesting system. State schools are allowed to do exactly the same if they wanted.

Golf clubs are generally only watering the greens, not the fairways, and cricket clubs are generally only watering the wicket, not the outfield. Again, allowed under the exemptions.

I don’t know why people jump on private schools at every opportunity. The operate under the same rules as everyone else.

It hasnt rained properly in months, hosepipe bans started in some areas over a month ago. Did you really think it was a good time to lay a lawn?

There is a public roundabout close to where I live that has a sprinkler in the middle and it's on whenever I pass by. It is infuriating when everyone else is not supposed to use hose pipes or sprinklers. This will be the council.

Yep, such a sad, bitter little thread. People are still, as far as I know, allowed to pay for education and healthcare without being imprisoned. And the posters here are the same who refuse to have the phone alert and refused to comply during Covid. Now they are all about 'doing our bit for the greater good' just a bunch of angry, jealous hypocrites who cant afford the things they dream of.

People who are inconsiderate enough to tell us they are doing us and the environment a favour by watering their new lawn, that’s who.

They might be laid off, you don’t know that.

Or maybe the highly regulated and respected car washes PP uses can also keep their workers even if their water use is restricted?

Oh come on, people don't compare to state schools because it is so so far from what state schools can afford. We've had the same patchy grass for years because we don't have enough space to keep children off it for long enough for the grass to grow. Any grass seed we've had has been paid for by staff or the PTA and then scattered and watered by teachers - our school has a cleaner but no caretaker for jobs like that. We have a single rubbish hose that barely reaches any parts of the playground. It is laughable that we would have even a member of staff to go and turn on a sprinkler throughout the holidays.

Who will presumably be paid whether the school’s frontage is watered or not?