to think that if you live in an area with a hosepipe ban

[Kveta]

you probably shouldn't set up a sprinkler for your approx 30x50 ft garden at 7am, and then leave it on all fricking day?

bloody neighbours

other neighbours were pressure washing their huge patio the other day, and have sprinklers on for half an hour every morning.

and people wonder why we're in a drought in the SE...

Ben5 my front garden is tiny and the back huge.

Can I have 5 and 25

Apparently there is a hospipe ban in my area, but as the people that I pay hundreds to each year can't be bothered to tell me that there is a ban, I assume that it doesn't apply to me or my area. Maybe this is what your neighbours are thinking.

do people have nothing better to do than report people for using hosepipes? most of the reason why there is a water shortage is down to the fact that the water companies lose billions of gallons of water a day. And hosepipe bans have been lifted in most areas. And there are quite a few exemptions i.e. if you have a patio/decking etc it can be used to prevent accidents. Blue badge holders are also exempt...

Apparently hosepipe bans are still in place and haven't been lifted.

More info on individual areas here: www.hosepipeban.org.uk/hosepipe-ban-current-situation/

ooh where is the thunderstorm?

I haven't seen anyone flouting the hosepipe ban around here (which is good).

Those who say "don't snitch" are probably too young to remember getting water from standpipes in 1976.

No I remember.

not sure why it's a bad thing to report when the water companies ask us to?

thunderstorm lasted, ooh, whole minutes, and was rubbish. :(

Oh! I'm surprised. I would do a great deal to avoid having to queue at specified locations at specified times, plus the hassle of getting any quantity of water home; or the consequences of no flush, no washing, no washing up etc (not to mention no ice in the very necessary gin).

The "don't snitch" attitude is pathetic. How old are you, 5? It's about collective responsibility, rather than an "I'm alright Jack" attitude.

When they give us reductions in our water bills and start making plans to ensure that we have a better water supply next year, then I will adhere to the hosepipe ban. Until then, if I want a couple of inches of water in our padding pool, I will have it.

It deflects from the fact that the big water companies should be repairing leaks etc not putting the responsibility onto householders who pay for a service that they are not getting. It's ploy to put the bills up. Can you imagine if the gas company said "Oh sorry, you carry on paying but you can't actually use the gas when you want to"- there would be uproar! I would feel differently if there actually was a shortage of water but more water is lost through the companies not repairing leaks than if someone's neighbour uses a sprinkler.
Last week the fields here were under water - so much water they looked like lakes!

Quite outraged!

I wouldn't report someone for swishing the hose over their garden every so often but leaving a sprinkler on all day is taking the piss isn't it? I hope they're on a water meter.

They might have a blue badge in which case they are entitled to do it. Power showers use tons of water I doubt anyone is thinking that they had better stop using them because of the water shortage.

I've done my shoulder in carrying water to keep my allotment going and my car is filthy because I don't want to waste water, yet yesterday I saw a woman washing her car with a hose. I really wish I'd stopped and taken a photo now, then reported her.

we have a hose pipe ban :( I wish we didn't as the plants and bushes are looking ropey but such is life :) however one set of neighbours have no issue washing their cars each weekend with theirs. I would not however report them, it is petty.

The don't snitch and if i want it i will have it attitude disgusts me. We all live in this society and have to adhere to the rules.... I can't stand it when people think they're exempt from things which everyone else is doing their bit for. People like this deserve the £1000 fine.

I would be very interested to know if anyone has ever actually been fined because I'm not sure you can be fined when you are already paying for a service and on a water meter. The water companies should be fined for drawing huge salaries and not fixing the leaks. Someone interviewing a spokesman from the water company on the news was very hesitant when asked the same question and when really pressed said that a reminder letter would go out to the 'offender.'

valium the water service we pay for is for us to have a clean source of drinking water for hydration and hygiene purposes - the garden and car washing usages are not covered, but are allowed by the water companies when there is enough water.

from Veolia:
"Domestic customers are entitled by law to receive a supply of water for normal domestic purposes such as drinking, cooking, washing and sanitation. We have no legal obligation to supply water for garden watering or washing motor vehicles and do not raise a specific charge for this use. In normal circumstances, we are happy for domestic customers to use water for these purposes (whether or not using a hosepipe), but where we consider there is a risk of insufficient supplies being available for distribution, we are able to prohibit the use of a hosepipe for these purposes."

the fine is for using the limited resource inappropriately.

I think I would report an ATM that was giving out free money, or someone who I knew had worked out a way to get extra cash for free out of an ATM, even though the banks are full of bastards who are making massive profit at our expense - so I see this as a similar concept. Yes, the heads of the companies are wankers, but that doesn't mean that we all have the right to use the resource exactly as we please because morally we disagree with the management.

Also, reporting is not about getting people fined - it's more about reminding them to use water properly (or that was my understanding). the fines seem a bit of a joke tbh.

Why don't YOU go and remind them then, in the name of community spirit, as I said, you might find that they have a blue badge.

I suspect I'd get much the same response as I did when asking them to turn their music down last summer - a sneer and then total ignoring of the request.

I think most folk would take a reminder from someone in the relevant uniform more seriously than from a neighbour.

We're in a ban area. We also have an airlock in our cold bath tap so no cold water. I want to run a pipe from the downstairs tap to the non working tap. Is that allowed?

I wonder if you would be in such hurry to report them then if you actually liked your neighbours?

It disgusts me that there are private companies making a profit out of a limited resource. If its that limited, then why aren't they doing more to reduce waste through leakage? Why aren't they trying to collect more? Because its easier for them to stick a notice on some obscure website somewhere telling their paying customers that if they use the resource they pay for they coudk risk a fine because that keeps their profits high.

If they had the courtesy to use the address they happily send my bills to, or they used the phone number they happily use to try and sell me plumbing insurance to instead inform me of the fact and the reasons they have decided to limit use of hosepipes (hosepipes, not water) then I might have more respect for what they say.

I disagree that it's about getting people to use water properly. If it was about that then they would say gardens cannot be watered at all, not that you can use the same amount of water as long as you use a can. They would stop watering the courts at Wimbledon, football pitches, the areas they want to keep nice for the Olympics and jubilee.