Would you report somebody for using a hosepipe during a ban?

[BurntBroccoli]

Lots of people on FB saying they will continue using as much water as they please as they have “paid for it”.

Reservoir levels are at 55% capacity when normally it’s 89% and with much more hot weather to come, I’m worried that they will implement standpipes due to people being irresponsible.

We've had population growth for decades, but infrastructure like reservoirs and other utilities simply hasn't kept pace. Blame the politicians!

Considering we're an Island surrounded by water, why aren't we building desalination plants like they have all over the Med?

Absolutely not.

Here in the East Midlands 2023 & 24 were two of the wettest years in history with constant relentless rainfall leading to flooding which was unprecedented in scale & frequency. Places which had literally never flooded before in living memory flooded repeatedly.

If the water industry is too incompetent to conserve resources during those periods in order to see it through future dry spells, or if it is too greedy to invest in the storage necessary to do so that isn’t my neighbours’ problem.

it's their job and not ours they can collect more of it, more efficiently, and stop leaks much more efficiently.

Can you give concrete examples of how the water companies are meant to do this NOW?

Not tomorrow, not ten years down the line, but NOW in 2025 when we’re already in the middle of a rainfall shortage?

Because refusing to take responsibility for your own (excessive) water usage until the proposed new reservoirs are built and the old pipework replaced isn’t going to prevent a shortage of supply if it doesn’t rain in the next few months, is it?

Places which had literally never flooded before in living memory flooded repeatedly.

This often happens after large-scale house building either upstream or on flood plains. Covering vast swathes of the land in tarmac and concrete means the water cannot soak into the ground so it runs across the surface until it collects in lower-lying areas.

Water companies are not responsible for the planning decisions of local councils nor the secretary of state for those ‘called in’ developments.

Also people having paved over front gardens so they can park their cars more easily. Equivalent to 22 times the size of Hyde Park alone in London.

I live in a road of 10 houses, 9 of the small front gardens are brown with the exception of 1 having lush green grass, sprinkler going all night, doing a tik tik noise all night!
Fairly new build, all on water meters. No I can’t be arsed to report!

Desalination in uk

The 2025 National Framework for Water Resources still keeps desalination on the table, especially for coastal or high-growth stress zones like the South East, but as a last resort, behind:
• New reservoirs
• Water transfers
• Wastewater recycling
• Demand reduction
• RAPID (Regulator Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development) is still evaluating desalination as one of ~17 strategic supply options, but none are in advanced approval stages as of mid-2025.

Desalination in UK

The UK has considered and builtdesalination plants, though they’ve historically played a very minor role in the national water supply strategy due to cost and energy concerns.

Existing Desalination Plants in the UK

1. Beckton Desalination Plant (East London)

• Opened: 2010 • Operator: Thames Water • Location: Beckton, East London • Type: Reverse osmosis (brackish water from the Thames Estuary) • Capacity: ~150 million litres/day (~400,000 people) • Status: Operational, but mostly kept on standby for emergencies (e.g. drought or pollution events)

Beckton is currently the largest desalination plant in the UK and the only major one built for public supply.

Planned or Considered Projects

1. South East Water – Eastbourne & Folkestone

• Proposed: 2010s • Goal: To help meet supply shortfalls in south coast areas • Status: Scrapped or postponed due to cost and environmental concerns

1. Southern Water – Isle of Wight / Hampshire

• Considered: 2020–2023 • Aim: To address deficits in Hampshire and Isle of Wight • Status: Shelved in favour of water reuse and transfer schemes (Southern Water Draft WRMP)

Why is Desalination Is Rare in the UK?

Cost
Very expensive per litre vs reservoirs or transfers

Energy
Energy-intensive, raising carbon and operating costs

Environment
Risk to marine habitats and brine disposal

Climate
Most of UK has sufficient rainfall for traditional supply if managed properly

Well no probably not unless they were filling up a 6 foot pool in the garden and I really didn't like them but I live somewhere everyone likes each other and generally plays by the rules.

Their bill must be huge - bet they haven’t had the new one yet with the price rises. Mine literally doubled!

Guess you could slip something through the door? That is a lot of water if they have it turned on full - something like 4-6 litres of water a minute or 360 litres an hour.

Yes it's cutting off one's nose to spite one's face isn't it.

Would I report someone watering their huge collection of valuable specimen perennial plants in pots? No. Because they have to be watered or they will die, and taking hours to water them with a can will use the same amount of water as watering each pot individually with a hose attachment. It would probably use the same amount of water as using a trickle or drip irrigation system, which is exempt.

Would I report someone using a sprinkler on their front lawn for hours or pressure-washing their vehicle? Hell yes. Grass willl not die, and recovers from drought, and you don't need a clean car.

I don’t think I would report them but I would say something to them.

'Would I report someone using a sprinkler on their front lawn for hours or pressure-washing their vehicle? Hell yes.'

To whom would you report? This is surely just guidance not enforceable by anyone. They just hope people will do what is allegedly the right thing.

I wonder of the media will whip it all up like they did in covid and have neighbours curtain twitching all day long.

Rain forecast next week!

Can you give concrete examples of how the water companies are meant to do this NOW?
Not tomorrow, not ten years down the line, but NOW in 2025 when we’re already in the middle of a rainfall shortage?

I can tell you what will stop them from doing anything NOW about NEXT YEAR and NEXT DECADE and FOREVER. Allowing them to foist the blame and fear off on the little people who need water to live, while they give themselves million pound bonusses. It is the reason there is a problem NOW and if they are allowed to continue to guilt trip us loudly it will continue to be a problem.

Being so short sighted as to make it all about NOW is really not helpful at all.

But since you asked so nicely...
Just reading this thread I know that there are reservoirs in nearby water areas that are as full or fuller than they have been for years, and an almost unused desalination plant by the Thames. Moving water around costs money (bonusses) and is a short term solution. Which is exactly what you have asked me to provide. It is also something that is done, and tankers exist for the purpose. Perhaps pipes do or could do too (oh no that costs money and can't be ready by 5pm today).

I take the point that some posters have made that both the government and local authorities have powers (planning, permission to dig up roads) that constrain the water companies and are out of their control. OK, some of our wrath should be aimed at these powers and authorities. But the message needs to be the same. There is plenty of rain in the UK, and it's collection and conservation are being grossly mismanaged to the detriment of the people who pay for it to be collected and conserved. It is a management problem. Make it their problem. Bring it to them. Tell your councillors and MPs and media. Let the people who have the power to cause significant change feel the need to do so.

The water company. They can issue fines.

Yes

It’s not the water companies that suffer, it’s our rivers…

Yorkshire Water say they would not issue fines unless someone was repeatedly and substantially breaking the ban. They would issue a reminder letter in the first instance.

They are basically hoping sufficient people with comply and not be arseholes about it that they can save an estimated 5% to 10% of water to keep supplies going as long as possible

I agree the water companies have been incompetent in the extreme.

But that's no reason to waste water.

They need to improve their infrastructure.

Yorkshire water dump over 500,000 hours of raw sewage into our water supplies every year. There are parts of the Yorkshire coast which we are unable to enter the sea water.

While making profits!

When they have a working service that doesn’t risk the public health, then we can discuss individuals’ responsibility to use water conscientiously and the expense of installing water meters.

We do not currently have a hose pipe ban where I live ( NW) even though we have had a lot less rain than usual, none at all during May that was unheard of! Mind you, we have also missed much of the heat wave, we’re only just getting some really hot days!

However, I would probably want to continue using a hose pipe in a ban to water my patio pots every couple of days as I am doing now. I lost four well established bushes earlier on this year due to the lack of rain in May so am more mindful now of regular watering. I have mobility problems and cannot walk well enough to use a watering can so carry a stool around to sit on while I use the hose pipe.

But I use a lot less water than many households, I live on my own - do not shower every day ( generally three times a week), put on the dishwasher about twice a week, wash my clothes when the machine is full less than once a week etc. My metered water bill is less than £16 a month.

I hope my neighbours would be more understanding of my needs than to report me! I know I could just let my plants die but as I cannot get out much so my patio area is very important to me. Obviously if we went into a serious drought situation I would have to rethink but hopefully that won’t happen, this hot spell is forecast to ease in a day or so and rain is expected soon.

Yorkshire Water charge me £90 a month, then do this… they can fuck right off. I will not be reporting a sausage to them.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-64745380.amp

They’re either going to get a BIG suprise bill or they can afford to pay. 🤷‍♀️

@eyeses

The water companies alone need to manage this, do they? You think it isn’t something that should concern you at all, do you? Really?

The water in your tap ultimately fell from the sky. If less water falls, less can be cleaned and processed and less is available for you to fill your paddling pool with.

Quick google gives me the following figures for average rainfall in June for both 1976 and 2025. These are official government figures - look them up for yourself if you wish.

Average rainfall UK June 1976 - 38.6mm
Average rainfall England June 2025 - 51.9mm

One notable change in the UK since 1976 is our much larger population now.

Population UK 1976 - 56 million
Population UK 2025 - 69 million

Although there had been a prolonged spell of drier weather (both winter and summer) for a number of years before the 1976 drought, for ease of comparison I’ll use the rainfall for June as a marker for how much water is ultimately available for the population to drink. Not perfect, but a rough guide in the absence of funding to devote more time to considering this,

1976 - 0.69mm of rain per million people
2025 - 0.75mm of rain per million people

Another thing that has changed markedly since 1976 is our use of technology. Internet connected IT equipment is ubiquitous in most households now, unheard of in the 1970s. All those google queries and calls for AI generated art take place in data centres across the UK. Data centres are notoriously water greedy and this government have said they want to push for even more to be built, to make the UK a hub of data processing. It’s no coincidence that suddenly new reservoirs are being planned - after years of trying to ignore the inevitable, the water companies are finally facing the reality of a national drive of a water-intensive industry. And it’s an industry that uses fresh, potable water because the equipment could be fatally damaged by impurities if they used recycled grey or rainwater.

Data centres in UK 1976 - not really a thing
Data centres in UK in 2025 - approx 500

Average water consumption per data centre - 11 million litres per day.

Approx total water consumption for 500 data centres per day - 5,500,000,000 litres.

Average person in UK uses 142 litres of water a day, so 5,500million litres is equivalent to an extra 38 million people.

Yes, you’re reading that correctly, the data centres we already have use the equivalent of an extra 38 million people in our population.

Adjusted rainfall per head to account for 38 million people data centres equivalent:
51.9/107 =0.485mm

1976 was a famous drought, yet we have less precipitation per person available in June 2025 than we did in 1976 despite having received more rainfall.

Oh, and watering a garden with a hose uses roughly 200 litres every ten minutes. That’s more than the average person uses in a day!

Still think it’s reasonable for people to boast about intending to ignore a hosepipe ban?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/data-centres-water-shortages

the data centres we already have use the equivalent of an extra 38 million people in our population.

Holy cow!!