To think that people don’t grasp that we can be in a drought even when the weather is cool?

YANBU, the weather is cooler but there has still not been much rain.

I haven't watered my garden for months (other than a watering can) and if I had a suitable downpipe anywhere in my property I would have got a water butt.

I'm happy to do my bit, I don't let taps run or have baths but I'm not recycling grey water or washing my hair only once a week.

I've just been for a run round the common and the flooded quarry and the ponds are so low 😟

People would be a lot more willing to conserve water if they could see water companies actively investing in new infrastructure

It's been obvious for decades that water will become a major source of stress in this country (both too much and not enough at the wrong times) and what have they done to mitigate it? Not sure they've done anything tbh

I'm still trying to keep my showers shorter than usual.
I've never watered my garden. I'll use a watering can to top up bird and hedgehog water and washing up bowl water for sunflowers and toms but that's it.

To be fair, we went to the Reservoir to walk the dog last week and it was almost full….. We’re in North Yorkshire where a drought was very recently declared. It is very odd given how full the local 3 reservoirs are

Thanks. A relation suggested this when I was foaming at the mouth earlier!

I don’t think it’s all good. I’m still observing our hosepipe ban. I’m hopeful that the reservoirs will be replenished over the winter.

We need more reservoirs, but the water companies won't invest in them.

No-one will invest in infrastructure - they're too busy stripping out every penny they can for personal gain.

Is it worth raising it with your MP and shaming the water company on social media?

If you want to DM me where it is, I’ll also put in a report. Might not do anything but gotta try?

Us too. Our water bill is absolutely horrendous. Yet SWW feel entitled to discharge sewage into the sea whenever they feel like, don't give a shit about our rivers either and yet remind us all not to overuse water

They can fuck off. Decades of mismanagement of water resources and we're the fools paying for it

I reported it twice more but nothing happened. I've walked the dogs there this morning and it's about three or four hosepipe-fuls sort of volume rushing down the lane. SWW go past it several times a week, ignoring it each time, which makes my blood boil.

I am a gardener and have not used the hose since the ban came in but I am twitching now my water butt level is low.
I am saying this on here to try to remain strong and not use it.

Last winter was a year ago now almost. How long do you think 6 months of rain should last exactly? Especially when it didn't rain for months? That 6 months of rain got us through a long hot months long drought without us running out which is great but it's obviously not going to last forever.

Whenever anything is posted on social media about the drought, the laughing emoticons appear. I just think, if they're not bots, they make people look really thick. As though they think "it's rained a bit, this must be a conspiracy".

No, no one likes the water companies, and they have been and continue to mismanage and pollute and cream off profits and the expense of sustainability. They still can't make it rain. People use the likes of South West Water's track record as an excuse to refuse to even slightly inconvenience themselves.

Seems as though the general policy regarding the water problem in this country is "Blind optimism that it'll rain loads".

Another one living in drought area. Our local reservoir is at 21% capacity. Most expensive water rates in the country, sewage being discharged into the sea making people ill. It's maddening. Then you get someone on Cornwall Live comments section sharing a picture of himself watering the garden because he doesn't care!

It's not like it didn't rain for 6 months straight last winter.. better investment in the infrastructure/new reservoirs needed. I don't know at what point the water has to be rationed.

This! I am fairly careful with water. I used to be extremely careful with it. I drained the bathtub through a hose into the garden previously but the having read so many times about how much water companies lose in leaks and their general lack of investments I can’t be bothered going to so much effort. We do live in an area that was never in drought this year. Maybe I’d go to more effort if we did

There is no area called “Tyne” in Lothian. The data AI has scraped for your post has been misread. If this is the kind of information you want people to base their views about drought on, it’s no wonder people don’t take it seriously.

I’ve done the work you should have and checked the sources. SEPA publish a weekly water scarcity report. This week’s report shows only the river Tweed in Scotland that has significant scarcity where restrictions are in place. The river Tyne in Lothian is in moderate scarcity, but no action is required. The rest of the Country has a few rivers to be watched or is entirely normal. Looking at previous weekly reports, the picture is that water levels are lower than usual in some areas of the country but it is an improving situation.

Wow that’s really shocking!

I think water companies have some responsibility the same as industry and individual households.
I've been following the fate of rivers like the Danube and the Rhine. It's a wakeup call for all of us!

Must be their mismanagement it basically rained non stop from January - April this year here.

I reported a leak in September 2025 and the water is still streaming down the lane!

I live in a very wet area, only emptied my water butts once this summer. I did send lots of clips of our rain to my jealous southern friends.

What I am most annoyed about is golf courses being watered if they are using anything but their own reservoirs, and even then that stops the water table refilling.

Why are shareholders still being paid and senior executives getting huge salaries.

In Denmark everyone is on a water meter and their consumption is half per capita of ours with a similar climate. We need to look at what else they are doing differently. It’s also simple things like watering your garden at dusk etc.

I think it’s really difficult to get people to believe there’s a serious drought when one look out the window shows it’s pouring with rain. It just reinforces the idea that it isn’t over consumption or lack of rain which is causing the problem - it is mismanagement from water companies.

Yes it’s ridiculous isn’t it? I reported a leak back in the summer and the report form was buried in a hard to find corner of their website. And it took them over two weeks to fix it.

They make it as hard as possible for the public to contact them because doing anything that meets their legal obligations, like repairing leaks or tackling hosepipe ban breaches, costs them and cuts into their precious profits.

I'm in the southwest with the highest water charges in the country, apparently. A lot of this area was under three feet of water in February. Now we are in severe drought. Doesn't stop moron down the road pressure washing his car twice a week, but SWW don't have a 'phone number to report it.