to think people who continue to use hosepipes are idiots

[oohlordylordy]

How difficult can it be?

COllect water in a water but or bucket for the garden, use left over dishwashing water, or even water from the bath for watering the garden.

Bathwater or a bucket of water for the car.

Yes, it's a bit more hassle, but there is a hosepipe ban. In april. For a reason.

I think those people who are saying 'well, I don't see why I shouldn't use it' are no better than people who chuck rubbish out of their cars because they don't see why they should take it home with them.

GRRR

Hmm...we don't have a hosepipe ban here (don't think we ever have!) but just out of curiosity - is it more a restriction on what you use water for or an outright ban? I use our hose to fill up the horses' water trough and I can't imagine they would ban that. Would they?

Can I be really ignorant and ask where/why there is a hosepipe ban? Is it because there hasn't been enough rain?

Disclaimer - I am in Scotland, can't imagine lack of rain being an issue any time soon

Thanks Worra. It would affect me if I actually wanted to use a hospipe, but I had to look it up to know that. And it's raining today, which just makes it even more annoying!

Bumbley that's got me thinking about the school I work in. We use a hospipe to fill up the reception children's water tray, I wonder if we wil still be allowed to do that?

Bumbley - there are exemptions for animals, so your horse trough would probably be ok. If they do bring one in in your area, there will be info on those exemptions on the water company's website.

Outraged, I wouldn't say so. I don't think the children's lives depend on water play. (although the teacher's sanity might!) :)

Thanks Girl. I was just curious. Like Bree, we live in a place where we are very unlikely to ever have a water shortage. We had snow yesterday! :)

Bree, Yes it was due to another fairly dry winter.

Agree that anyone who uses it for 'leisure' or non essential purposes is an idiot.

However, until there is a drought order I will be using it to water the plants on my allotment (legally) as I will have about £200 of thirsty plants which is all our food for the summer.

Obviously I have loads of water butts/guttering on my allotment shed into water butts etc and I will be very careful with water.

It's also really important that we have as little environmental impact as possible - which is why watering my courgettes is more environmentally sensitive than me importing all my fruit/veg from round the country/abroad.

Thanks worra we have just laid turf which needs regular watering but the rain is taking care of that at the moment!

Yes, I am a keen gardener and also have quite a large garden to be keen about! But I'd still prefer to adapt how I garden - or accept that maybe umpteen delightful hanging baskets are impractical right now, than I would be reliant on getting water from a standpipe. When it comes down to it, pretty flowers come very low down the list of my priorities. Instead, I'd much rather (legally) water things we can eat!

Crap wrists, long garden, carrying buckets really hurts for days afterwards.

Have ended up with waterbutts off playhouse, garage, house and shed so I can fill watering can near where I want it.

I really feel for elderly arthritic people and feel we should invest more money in water infrastructure.

We haven't got a hose pipe ban yet. Pray we don't get one, because getting wet is the one way guaranteed to occupy hot grumpy DDs.

Cheap and reliable Bree!

I mean the rain by the way, not you

I saw on our water website that if the house hold is a blue badge holder they are able to continue to use their hose to water the garden. Good for me because the garden is big and I can't fill and carry watering cans umpteen times, I'm unsteady at the best of times.

I think it should be a ban on using water for non essentials rather than a hosepipe ban, so watering flowers should be WAY down on the list along with lawns and paddling pools whereas watering food plants should be allowed, however you do so. Did you know that they are asking people to shop their neighbours for not complying with the ban? Would you be tempted?

Depends on the penalties - if they are toothless, then anyone who obeys and lets their garden die while others carry on sprinkling is the idiot, albeit an ethical one.

(We were the idiots in the last ban fwiw, the only brown lawn in a sea of green)

We pay £410pa for our water.
I agree with Debsbear, they shouldn't have sold off all the reservoirs. We have this situation year after year and still they don't come up with a solution despite them keep putting up the prices of our water services.

We don't have a pool, we don't wash the car (when it rains it will get washed), we don't have a hosepipe. We recycle the washing up water (use eco-friendly washing liquid anyway) and most of us have a shower.

I don't see anyone wasting water apart from the water company. More than a quarter of water companies failed to respond to water leakages according to the water regulator Ofwat, 6 out of 21 companies failed to deal with the big freeze which resulted in burst pipes and local flooding yet the profits they make are over £3bn a year.

If they stopped wasting water, if they deal with water leakages efficiently and if they were prepared for both freezing and hot weather then there would be no need for a hosepipe ban every single flipping year.

So YABU - direct your criticism to the water companies and not the average person whose water consumption is a flash in the pan compared to what the companies piss away every year.

Is the hosepipe ban a southern thing

drinks grime hosepipe unconcerned

This made me laugh

I agree with Debsbear, they shouldn't have sold off all the reservoirs. We have this situation year after year and still they don't come up with a solution despite them keep putting up the prices of our water services.

They do have a solution. It's called minimal investment in infrastructure and racking up prices and hosepipe bans whenever rainfall doesn't deliver.

The benefits of privatisation are indeed bountiful (to teh foreign owners).

Yes, YABU. a) no hosepipe ban here and b) what's the problem with using it to work out what shape the lawn edge would look best following?

(we have a waterbut off the garage near the veg bed, not that we need to use it often as on heavy clay and its still not remotely dry)

Not a bad description of me worra

Yes isn't privatisation great?

And yet another Tory government got voted. What did they do? Well they're privatising the Royal Mail and destroying the NHS so they can privatise that too, because obviously privatisation has a great track record - well, so long as you're rich with shares in it obviously.

YAB slightly U. I agree that the water companies need to sort out leaks etc before they start limiting water usage - which is especially annoying when water rates seem disproportionately high anyway.

A ban also seems to punish those who grow their own fruit and vegetables which is unfair since the environmental impact of using a hosepipe is going to far lower than driving to the supermarket to buy equivalents that have been imported from Thailand or somewhere.

I can't think of another commodity where you can be charged a set amount but the supplier can then demand (and legally enforce) that you must use less of it but still pay the same amount to them, because they're running out.

I will observe the ban and use less water in general, of course, but an advisory 'there is a water shortage, please try and conserve water, here is a valve thing for the loo and a timer for the shower, there's a dear' would be nicer than 'don't use your hosepipe because we will get your neighbours to shop you and fine you a grand, you irresponsible numpties. Take 10 times longer to do the same thing with a watering can instead.'

YABU, we don't have a hosepipe ban. Until we do, I will continue washing my car.