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.

Just read this statement on SM from our local MP

Keeping plants alive, no. Washing their car, possibly.

THREAD
https://x.com/Feargal_Sharkey/status/1942858908894151073

Feargal Sharkey has done wonderful work in this area. He’s bringing so much awareness.

yep Bet the water companies cant stand him

I didn't know you could water food crops with a hosepipe, that's good to know, thanks.

and @Thedevilhasfinallycaughtupwithhim

"Write to your MP" - Yes
"Cancel your DD" - Absolutely not. You'd be in breach of contract (so legally indefensible) and you'd go into debt.

How come when telephone, electricity and gas were privatised we got to change suppliers if we wanted, yet water ... well can anyone explain why they were privatised ?

In fact the whole rotten scheme was predicated on the fact that consumers would drive the market to improve.

Rather than just not paying - which they have engineered to be difficult, maybe a campaign centred around not paying your incumbent supplier and sending a cheque for your last bill to the best supplier in the rankings.

(I am thinking on my feet here, so feel free to constructively criticise).

You could cancel your direct debit and ask for a monthly bill. They hate that as the admin costs a lot more!
Also pay it on the final reminder so they have to send quite a few letters out first.

I quite like that idea!

We don't shower every day so I figure a 5 minute sprinkle of my pots isn't going to hurt anyone.

Well we just had quite a bit of rain hammer down so maybe added another percent or two to our stocks and won’t need to water the garden win win.

Interestingly, on the 3 o'clock news (radio Sheffield) Yorkshire Water reported that water consumption during the latest heatwave went down after restrictions were imposed. So clearly a lot of people are being sensible.

Being serious about water management at the macro level involves reservoirs, and as a society we'll have to figure it out. Which is a bit better than not working as a society and just having things imposed by the state.

In the meantime if all new builds were designed with water management in mind,you might see things like each house capturing rainwater in a tank and then using that as grey water. Gardening and toilet flushing and hosepipe use.

A drive to retrofit to older houses would be an idea too.

The overall effect would be to smooth the demand on reservoirs. It would also help alleviate some flooding caused by runoff onto concrete.

However as we all know here we aren't serious about it Like a lot of things we say we are serious about, the reality demonstrates otherwise. As a society we are clearly as serious as a call centre who insists that "Your call is important to us". No it isn't. It never was. It never will be. Just be honest.

In this case we should be honest and say we have fuck all intention of doing anything (although it's obvious even if you don't say it), shut up, and free up valuable news space for whatever is happening in the Big Brother house.

No. I remember 1976, but I’m going to start reporting people.

My dad just got a letter saying the ban did not apply to him … apparently it doesn’t if you have a blue badge as the thinking is you cannot carry a watering can. It did ask him to be careful with the water still.

OK, fine, that isn't what your previous post said. However, if water companies' admin costs increase, they just pass them on to us customers so, unfortunately, it's self-defeating.

Well, Thames Water have joined the party with a hosepipe ban starting on 22 July. That adds a lot more people, 1.1 million.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg4revv15qdo

Their money water levels must be low.

I am surprised how few houses have water buds. Where I grew up most had some. But lots of us were also on own wells so had to self manage

We have two water butts. It was threatening rain a little earlier with dark clouds, but they passed by and we are back to blue skies again.

More is coming tomorrow 😁

My cousin in Florida had to drill a well in order to get permission to build his house. All the houses had to have them.

However, you won't get such sensible measures in the UK as they are a clear and present danger to water company profits.

It is beyond immoral that water should be considered a resource that can be owned privately.

Oh ours were 100+ years old. And in town which I assume got everything sorted well after these were build🙈. Newer ones don't have it. I don't think you can drill well anywhere anyway, but waterbuds should be a standard to have with gardens.

At least most people seem to have respected the ban:

“The ban, which is expected to last until winter, was introduced by Yorkshire Water on Friday, with more than 5m householders barred from using hosepipes for activities such as watering the garden, washing the car or filling a paddling pool.
The company praised its customers after water usage dropped by about 26m gallons (100m litres) in just two days.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr79pz2yjj2oYorkshire Water hosepipe ban saves millions of gallons during heatwave - BBC News