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.

Install a drip irrigation system. It will save water and so save you money if you’re on a water meter, plus you won’t need to struggle with a watering can for your pots.

Drip irrigation systems use 70% less water than hoses as very little of it evaporates as they direct the water directly to the soil and roots.

This one does 20 pots - https://www.amazon.co.uk/HOZELOCK-Drip-Irrigation-Controller-Programmer-Water-saving

You can control how often it comes on and for how long each time.

No, I wouldn’t. Life can be tough enough without nosey curtain twitchers making it worse.

Nosey people need to get their own life.

Thank you so much for researching all that. I’d forgotten about how much water the data centres use. Those figures are astronomical!

Some interesting stats here on the catastrophic water loss by water boards
https://www.datatecnics.com/news/leakage-burst-statistics-you-should-know-in-20205

@GentleSheep Yes, shocked me when I found out!!

The BBC article says each data centre uses between 11 million and 19 million litres of water per day, equivalent to a town of between 30,000 and 50,000 people, but that’s based on data centres in arid regions.

According to UK water companies each of us uses around 140 litres a day for washing, showering, drinking, flushing the loo etc.

For our national consumption that’s around 38 million people for the 500 data centres we currently have. If we used the article’s figures of 30,000 - 50,000 people per data centre that’s still between 15 million and 25 million people equivalent!!

Even if UK data centres were somehow massively more economical and only used 50% of the water quoted in the article that’s still the equivalent of another 19 million people in our population…

And our current government want to increase both the number and the size of those data centres. Perhaps they’re also planning on a national programme of rain dances to increase precipitation…

@EviesHat you atted me ending with this "Still think it’s reasonable for people to boast about intending to ignore a hosepipe ban?"

You are clearly mistaking me for someone else or alternatively have made a bunch of assumptions. I do not, never have, and have never said that I think that behaviour is reasonable. You can do your own research if you like.

@eyeses

”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.”

When the topic under discussion is whether to report someone breaking a hosepipe ban, your comment above does seem to endorse the stance of those who not only wouldn’t report it, but would actually be the ones doing the breaking.

I apologise if I have misinterpreted this.

@EviesHat

Fair enough.
The point I was making was that the people who have the power to fix this (have shown that they) will not do so because it is not affecting the things that matter to them in their decision making.

As other posters have pointed out with data and references, those authorities (water/local/central government) are responsible for a huge amount of wastage which could and should be dealt with.

The data centre information completely makes this point for me. If they want to improve the water supply, they can. Money and votes and reputation are good encouragers for these oragnisations and the people within them. It's telling how ££ from data centres has been a more effective encourager than the thought of standpipes.

Plus even if you do report it, do the water companies even have the capability and aUthority to effectively investigate?

My thoughts exactly. You think the water police are going to come knocking at your door?

What!!!! I've got a blue badge. Does that mean I can use my hose willy nilly? Not that I do. I just let it all die off, it usually recovers in winter.

No. Mind your own business.

There is one. Reservoirs are dropping daily and no sign of any rain in the forecasts.

Yes - the water companies are shit, but if we don’t use it carefully we may suffer standpipes as in 1976. No new reservoirs have been built and there are a lot more people.

But this is the whole point isn't it. The water companies have not invested in new reservoirs despite population growth, they have not invested in preventing leaks & other systemic water loss, and (where I live at least) they have not invested in capturing and treating & recycling waste water. And the government has not invested in a national water network.

And yet somehow it all falls to the poor domestic user to somehow compensate for all this.
What amazes me is that we take all this crap lying down instead of demanding better from the authorities!

We should all be writing to our MPs (and/or the press) asking what they are going to do about it all - not dobbing on our neighbours.

As a tiny island surrounded by billions of gallons of water and the majority of the planet blue with vast water resources, I will continue to use water and refuse to give in to distractions imposed in the form of “hosepipe bans”. Life’s too short and we pay enough in taxes etc for the water corporations to pull finger out. It happens every year. Enjoy your garden plants🪴🙂

Lots of really stupid selfish people who seem to think because we have an aging water infrastructure (and no water company anywhere in the world doesn’t have leaks) then that absolves them form needing to follow the rules.

There is far too much selfish self-centred “the rules don’t apply to me” behaviour in the country, so yes would absolutely grass them up for watering their grass.

Well said @GiveDogBone

If there was a thumbs down emoji I would use it against this unutterably selfish post.

Don't be selfish. Clean water is a finite source right now. If everyone did what you did and there wasn't enough rain all you would do is hasten the use of standpipes.

I hate this "I'm alright Jack" attitude

Does this image of a reservoir not bring it home to you? I took this photo yesterday.

Keeping trees and plants alive is essential for the environment. I will be watering my garden during a hosepipe ban filling watering cans and buckets, my neighbours are notorious curtain twitchers and would definitely report me if I watered directly from the hose.

Because many who have a blue badge are unlikely to be able to schlep back and forth carrying full watering cans (god knows I can't which is why the veg patch has a drip irrigation system now) they are exempt from the ban but asked to please use water mindfully.

It's too much like hard work to try and segregate Blue-Badge-Not-Very-Mobile from Blue-Badge-For-Other-Reasons, so it's a bit of a blunt tool.

We've been teasing each other in my house that the rest of them can use teeny water pistols but I could have a power hose if we declared a water fight. "Come at me, suckers! I've a crutch and a hose and I'm taking no shit..."

No new reservoirs have been built for over 30 years even though water companies know they’re desperately needed and they’re paying their CEOs insane bonuses.

This is not the fault of Sheila for keeping her rose bush alive.

What a disgusting selfish person you are.

Not to mention too stupid to understand the difference between salt water and freshwater.

It would help if you tagged the posters you wish to insult.

No, but we should all be sensible about water use. Using it all up doesn't solve anything.

Neither does turning on your neighbours.