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

Who the hell lays new turf in the middle of a burning hot summer when it hasn't rained properly in many places for over a month? People who like to burn money?

They are using processed drinking water.

The issue this year isn’t reservoirs, they were full after a very wet winter and spring.
It’s that water companies don’t have additional capacity for processing water due to increased demand ( ie everyone watering gardens and filling pools) in hot weather.

Keeping grass green is no way akin to a business that needs to use water.

I know little about golf but I’m assuming the greens are not just random grass. I expect they are highly maintained. Businesses have different exceptions as the cost to them of not using the water would cripple them.

The issue is that they often have massive grounds and it’s not only the sports pitches they are watering. I know having had 2 sons go through. The grass on site cost the school hundred of thousands to maintain to the standard they kept it at.

@ shockmethen -
There are several reasons for making people use buckets -

1. It makes people aware of how much water they’re using
2. With an hose, people will leave it running on a lawn or garden - you can’t do that with a bucket.
3. While you can fill a small paddling pool with a bucket, you’d be hard pressed to fill some of the larger pools that people have.

There are all sorts of exemptions - for newly planted trees, and newly laid turf. If you have an underground irrigation system with a pressure-reducing valve, you’re allowed to use it. Likewise, if you’re disabled, you’re allowed to use a hose to water your garden. Because we aren’t used to hosepipe bans, the laws are somewhat flawed and inconsistent. The thing that makes me really angry, far more than schools watering their fields, is water leaks that just carry on unabated because the water companies haven’t got round to fixing them. When you read how much water is wasted through leaks - the water authority where I live loses over 185 million litres of water every DAY - our water saving efforts seem to be something of a drop in the bucket.

What’s the difference though. If you are using a can to water enough then you are using the same water

the bitterness towards private schools know no bounds!

a lot of grass roots football and rugby will be delayed in September as the pitches are dangerously hard. Astro slots will be at a premium

I don't think the ban includes businesses just the public, there was mention this week of banning some business use of water like car washes and private swimming pools which are those in gyms and holiday parks so probably watering of businesses grass would come under that if it come in

The private schools aren’t just using sprinklers. They’re actually watering the grass with unicorn tears.

You wouldn’t get any of that sort of wicked behaviour down the local comp.

The rules in my area allow you to water new turf for 28 days after it’s been laid - check the rules for your area but it’s probably allowed.

Anyone with a private water supply (like a borehole or private rainwater retention) is exempt from the hosepipe ban.

If you ban them too, you will disincentivise people from making their own arrangements and leave even more demand on our mains system.

This is too simplistic. The water companies must tell Ofwat how much they want to invest and every time Ofwat says no and caps them at a lower amount.

New water sources take time. When Thames Water proposed a new reservoir in 2010, Defra blocked it as unnecessary. Then in 2024 govt decided it must be done urgently.

We have the worst combo of state and private in how we run water in the UK.

In my area we have a new housing estate with a sprinkler running in every garden to protect the new laid turf. The houses aren’t selling, open day was more than a year ago. Total waste of water. And we have a golf course with sprinklers running - equally pointless.
Our two private schools have grass just as brown as everyone else’s. They have more sense and know that as soon as it rains, the lawns will green up beautifully.

There were a lot of complaints about a private school near me watering it's grounds that include a sports pitch with sprinklers. What the complainants didn't realise was they have a rainwater collection/storage system that collects rainwater in the winter for use in the summer, precisely so they can keep that part of the grounds in good condition. It's perhaps possible other places have something similar?

Most years that's true, but I'm more doubtful this year as the crispy well trodden parts have been walked bare..there's no crispy bits left. It just bare ground. I think I'm going to be planting something more robust next year.

I chose DD’s private school solely on the quality of their grass.

I view with disdain state schools and their yellow lawns.

Why? If they don’t have to manage?

They probably have their own private water supplies, thus are exempt from the ban.

This, times one million.

It’s really not a good look and the sports pitch excuse bothers me. There are football pitches up and down the country which are parched, local league teams will be playing when the season starts. If they can manage, so can the private schools.

This country IS in a terrible state though and the water companies don’t seem to ever be accountable.

Not this again. There are so many posts moaning about golf courses/cricket pitches/private schools. It’s strange that I haven’t seen a single post about football pitches or state schools. The same rules apply to everyone. If you feel there is a breach of the rules, report them. Around our area, I’ve only seen the watering of areas which fall under an exemption (eg cricket wickets and golf greens).

The biggest wasters of water are the water companies themselves. Building no reservoirs while our population has increased and failing to keep pipes functional. They lose more in leaks than we could ever hope to save by washing less and letting our plants die.

They're still charging us the same despite all this. And a chunk of our street has a dribble of water pressure because of a leak they have no interest in.

Personally I think we should stop making ourselves suffer to protect these organisations earning millions off of us and failing to provide what we pay for. We should be able to use the water we need and pay for and they should be responsible for providing it.

This is not an ecological issue. We had the wettest winter on record. They really have no excuse.

I live in London and was on a bus today by Regent's Park. Grove House, which appears to be owned by the Omani royal family had extremely green lawns when everything else looks like the Seregenti.