To fill my pool before the hosepipe ban starts?

[SooticaTheWitchesCat]

There is going to be a hosepipe ban in our area from April so AIBU to fill up my 8ft paddling pool now before the bans starts?

It has a cover and I can keep it clean through the summer with cleaning tablets and top up with a bucket if neccessary.

I just want my girls to be able to play in the water if it is a hot summer and I wont be able to fill it after the ban come into force.

But if I fill it now will that be cheating?

Not everyone does pay for it thought as many are still on rated water so pay one amount regardless of what they use.

Everyone should be on a meter and then people would think twice before they wash a towel after one use or fill a great big paddling pool.

Lambzig, how bad do you think it will be given that we already consume far too much water? Is it going to be a case of us all getting used to more sensible levels of water use, or are we talking civil unrest over the last bucket at the standpipe all year round even after we've all got used to using loads less water?

Is anyone official in this country planning to make all new build houses have two water systems so drinking water is only used for drinking, or is it going to have to get really bad before alternative ways of using water are set up?

I think everyone needs to make an effort to be more economical with water. We are in Scotland and don't "need" to be. But we do need to be. It's a precious resource. YABU. Children playing in a paddling pool is not a high priority. And it will be minging if left between now and summer...yeuch!!!

Everyone saying "we need to be careful with water" generally IS careful with water. It's the people who say "I will be careful with my water use when her down the road is/when the water companies fix the leaks/when the Chinese factories stop using so much/when they stop charging me so much for it" etc who need convincing.

Yabu. There is a water shortage,irrelevant of when the ban comes in.
The hygiene of it sounds pretty grim to me.

The only way to make people think about their water usage is to charge everyone for each and every litre they use.

Out of curiosity - how much are water rates generally?
We're metered and probably spend about £600 on our water bills.

A year that is.

It varies enormously Beamur. That's what causes so much angst in the South West about water - the poorest area of the country paying by far the highest water bills. I have a meter and pay about £100 per quarter - there's just the two of us and we are careful with our water use. Without a meter I think it would be about £700.

Rates vary greatly depending on area. Before we moved our house was rated and we paid about £30 per month, my mum who lived about 5 miles away was rated but only lived about 4 miles away was paying £67 per month. We are now metred and it works out about £60 per month.

i'm in the east and there was a leak that took 3 months of reporting before anyone for the water company came out and had a look

so its all fair and well saying hosepipe ban, but how much water is being wasted by leaks?

I will try not to be too boring. At the moment water use is around 150 litres per person per day. A Govt white paper challenges the utilities industry to get it down to 120 litres per person per day by 2020, but no real moves yet and future targets may be even smaller. In addition, the number of single occupancy households is set to increase and single occupany households use more water per person.

I think at the moment, there is uncertainty about how to reduce amounts used. Whether it can be done using building regs (currently dual systems are very expensive and a bit clunky) or whether a pricing mechanism should be in place (eg you pay a certain amount for so much water use and the more you use the more expensive it gets). Thats why water poverty could become such an issue.

Certainly houses are going move towards being metered, so those who pay based on rateable value and use a lot for swimming pools or garden sprinklers wont be able to do that anymore.

I dont know whether its going to be standpipes in the street constantly, but I do think at the very least we are all going to have to stop thinking of it as almost free think that there is an endless supply of and move to thinking of it like we think of food, gas and electricity in terms of needing to conserve it to save money.

We use quite a lot of water, despite not washing towels too often, not washing cars, etc - I'm sure our bills will go down when the teens leave home.

What is the disincentive for more people to have meters? Do you have to pay to have one fitted in an older house?

We are a family of 6 and have a meter. Very pleased with our bill which arrived the other day - £227 for 6 months. We have cut our average daily water usage by 50litres compared to the same period last year. We are below the efficient level for a family of 6!! Efficient is 620 litres per day and we use 583 ... typical usage is 840. People need to be more careful.

I just got my water rates bill this morning

Nearly £400 for the year

YABU

It's only a hosepipe ban.

You could fill your paddling pool with buckets...get the kids involved.

Thanks Lambzig.

I think the disincentive is that people suspect they will have to cut back on their water use, Beamur, because they have three kids who make their clothes dirty/two cars they like to keep clean/four dogs/a big garden that needs watering/a swimming pool and they currently realise they are using a lot more than they would otherwise pay for.

Plenty of water is lost by leaks but that is outside your control but the amount of domestic water you waste is in your control.

People need to do what they can to conserve water rather than thinking i will worry about/consider it it when the water board fix all the leaks.

schlike we're a family of 5 and I don't yet know anyone who has saved money by having a water meter...at the very most they've broken even like my Dad did (who lives alone)

As meters are a bit voluntary at the moment, a rule of thumb on whether it will save you money to get a water meter is if you have more bedrooms than people in your house, it will save you money (at current prices). A more sophisticated calculator is here if anyone is interested.

www.uswitch.com/water/

We've had a water meter since we moved here 13 years ago - no idea what I'd pay without one. I like the fact it tells me exactly how much we've used.

I read something recently - cant remember where - that SE Water authorities 'waste' £32 billion of water a year due to leaks. The cost of the new high speed rail link from London to Birmingham (which seems to be pretty unpopular) will be £36 billion.

Given that water is a finite resource, and there are other ways to travel from London to Birmingham and beyond and back again, wouldnt it be a better infrastructure investment to repair the water system?

Of course it would boschy. But it's far too sensible, and coming from the mouth of a mere woman MNer, too simplistic and doesn't take into account all sorts of clever things like political will and economics.

Could you not just go to the shop and buy tons of sparkling water to fill the pool with? Wouldn't that just make it extra fun?