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?

ha ariel silly me!!

As I understand it the problem with fixing all of the water leaks is that there are some that it just isn't economical to fix. If a water company was to fix them all then they would need to increase prices beyond acceptable levels. There is also the issue that it could never be a watertight system, one leak would be fixed and another springs up.

Of course there is the small matter that if they didn't have to pay shareholders then they would be able to fix more of them

Although don't start thinking that the problem would be solved if only the water companies were nationalised. Northern Ireland Water is a government owned company and is a total shambles. We don't pay directly for water even through water rates, there is just a nominal amount included in our general rates bill. Because people aren't paying a reasonable amount for water, both the water and the sewerage infrastructure are totally inadequate. So if we have heavier than usual rain, the sewers can't cope and we get flooding and then over Christmas 2010 colder than normal weather led to pipes bursting all over the country leaving thousands of people without water.

Charging for water isn't an economic issue here, it's a political one, with no politician having the nerve to make people pay a fair amount for a resource, that is apparently free because it falls from the sky . You also have the ridiculous situation where if NI Water saves money during the course of the year, instead of that money being pumped into new projects, it can be taken off them to be spent within a totally different government budget.

The sewage problem occurs in heavy rainfall even in places with extorionate water rates the furryone e.g. here

Sorry, "here" was supposed to mean the beach in North Cornwall.

We didn't need a paddling pool, we used to go just down the road here to splash and play. I have beautiful photos of my daughter a couple of summers ago playing in the ford in the first photo, and have had to pull several cars out of the ford in the second photo. Riding horses waist deep down the river was a regular attraction too. It was full of water voles and brown trout and crayfish, a lovely place. And now it is bone dry, has been all winter. I personally will not be filling my paddling pond - the water just isn't there. I will be watering my veg garden though, with rainwater collected in one of the water butts I have set up.

Filling a pool to play in when rivers are dry is just selfish.

My OH said he would sell his car if he couldn't wash it properly, and I think he was only half joking [car is like the OW in our relationship]

I told him he was being a twonk.

Thankfully our local water company announced this week our region would not be restricted so I don't have to dump him, which is nice

Natural resources are everyone's responsibility imo, I have no issue with chucking occasional buckets of water over the SK's in the garden instead of filling a sodding big pool which they only play in for ten minutes before losing interest anywayso even without a hosepipe ban I don't think we'll get the pool out this summer, it's a bloody waste of water unless there's a load of them playing in it all day.

My OH said he would sell his car if he couldn't wash it properly, and I think he was only half joking [car is like the OW in our relationship]

I told him he was being a twonk.

Thankfully our local water company announced this week our region would not be restricted so I don't have to dump him, which is nice

Natural resources are everyone's responsibility imo, I have no issue with chucking occasional buckets of water over the SK's in the garden instead of filling a sodding big pool which they only play in for ten minutes before losing interest anyway so even without a hosepipe ban I don't think we'll get the pool out this summer, it's a bloody waste of water unless there's a load of them playing in it all day.

I should think the water companies could fix their leaks and crumbling old cast iron Victorian pipes pretty sharpish if everyone's water bill was doubled? Obviously nobody will mind their towns/roads/gardens being dug up as well.

The best use of cash to start with would be to make every household metered, IMO, and I speak as one who isn't.

£32 bn of water sounds a bit puzzling - how was that worked out? That's a phenomenal amount of money.

here approx £3million per day is spent on treating water that is then lost through leaks, so about £1bn per year?

Fill it now. You can always drink it later when the taps run dry.

Selfish much? Yabu, the south east is suffering drought which will affect agriculture in a major way and all the people being irresponsible and wasteful in their use of water are contributing to the problem.

Just fill it up later using buckets [winks]

Bit selfish really.

Round our way the water board are clearly making serious efforts to sort out the leaks. I think they decide which pipes to replace by looking at our travel itinerary for the next 6 months and then digging up all the roads we want to drive on. Big piles of blue plastic piping are much in evidence round here (except not at the moment because there's about to be a pre-Olympic moratorium on roadworks).

I just read my local paper and it said there will be no hosepipe ban here (East London/Essex)

I'll certainly be filling my pool if the weather's nice because the kids spend literally all day every day in it.

We never have hosepipe bans here, I think it's just a Southern thing.

Well to those who think it would be dirty by summer, it wont as we have a filter for it and water treatment tablets to keep the water clean, like you do in a swimming pool.

I think I am going to fill it.

I really don't see how they're going to enforce this 'hosepipe ban'! Is it an offence or just a recommendation?

You can still fill your paddling pool with a hosepipe ban but if there is a drought order you won't be able to - pool advice

Slatternly - strictly speaking you could get a £1000 fine for each breach - it's a criminal offence. Obviously the problem is spotting who has done so - but a nice green lawn could be a bit of a giveaway, or the nosy neighbours could report you.

Ooooh goodness carrie! Well I didn't know that! Lucky my garden is teeny tiny and all paved. I remember my Dad putting the sprinklers on at night when I was a little girl because of the hosepipe bans; that's terrible isn't it?!

They're really vigilant - plenty of people got fines last time.

One of the joys of living in Scotland is our endless rain and even we have experienced depleted reservoirs. No hose-pipe bans etc. for decades but wasting water doesn't sit well with me anyway.
We aren't metered up here either - it was suggested years back but public uproar stopped that in it's tracks.

We are also really careful, our bills at home are 200 for the year. I wash towels monthly

Just like carbon footprint we should all only be 'allowed' a certain footprint that we use how we like.

Me, I'll wash my towels monthly providing I can water my courgettes

Yay, another reason to live in rainy Scotland

And yanbu.