Hosepipe ban... really!?

[NotTakenUsername]

So, we lose days of learning in the winter (most winters now - I understand it didn’t use to be so often.)

Now, we can’t use our water supply when we most need it!

We’ve had floods this year. Floods!!

AIBU to be pissed off that just as the kids finish school with dreams of lazy days spent with the paddling pool getting full use, our shitty infrastructure lets us down once again?

Purplegreen. Yes, we have built desalination plants in Australia to ensure secure water supply. But in Sydney and Melbourne we have never needed to use them. Nor have we had water restrictions for a number of years.

What I don't understand if you get lots of rain and still need restrictions is why you don't have water tanks on your properties in the UK. Many Australian houses have tanks which catch the rainwater from the drainpipes and can be used on the garden and in swimming pools. This way treated water from the taps is not wasted.

Maybe your properties are too small to make that practical.

"Many Australian houses have tanks which catch the rainwater from the drainpipes and can be used on the garden and in swimming pools. This way treated water from the taps is not wasted. "

Almost all the Houses in the UK have water butts to collect rainwater. We have 5 and all 5 have run dry because we have had no rain for weeks now.

I was in Cape Town over Easter and it really has made me realise how limited a resource water can be - it's stupid to take it for granted, as so many of us do. It could become a huge issue around the planet in the future - it is sensible to be mindful of our consumption of any resource.

I think the question as to WHY there is a water shortage is a good one.
And the answer is he sthe weather BUT ALSO THE FACT WATERPIPES ARE LEAKING ABOUT 1/4 OF THE WATER.

Sorry about the shouting but it annoys me immensely to see that water companies have not done any of the maintenance work they shouod have done over the years and now suddenly it’s all down the people to restrict their usage etc...
These companies should be made to do the work they were supposed to do.
A hosepipe ban is just plaster over the issue.

OP it has to rain in the right places to fill the reservoirs

They covered this in year 7 at school

@nervousnails not one person I know has a waterbutt for their garden. 'Almost all' 😂 are you living in a stepford town?

Hosepipes bans generally don't apply to us as we are an equine property. But to be honest other than hosing the horses legs down, which I do very rarely, I only use the hosepipe to fill the buckets and water troughs. And when the buggers decide they don't like that water, which they do on occasions, I use rainwater from the butt instead.

For me winter is much more of an issue when the bloody stuff freezes!

I always thought a hosepipe ban was so people did not water their gardens and plants etc. I'm pretty sure its ok to fill a small paddling pool, or fill animal water troughs.

I have to admit the most water waste for me is soaking the haynets. I must use 25 litres per haynet per horse (2) per day. And it can't be reused. That is a massive amount when thought about

I manage around eighty treatment/storage sites. Please give a thought to all of those who are working round the clock to get water out the door to everyone! I have spent many a weekend away from my children in order to try and ensure supplies to those who want to fill their paddling pools etc.

Water is always a precious commodity and we are becoming increasingly constrained by EA restrictions (quite rightly to predict the environment) and increased demand due to house building. We invest millions in new plants and trying to reduce leakage in order to get more water to the customer.

We will see more water movement through the country in the next couple of decades and more effluent reuse.

I'd also like to know where in the UK "almost all" houses have a water butt I don't know anyone who has one, I'd imagine only the most keen gardeners have one (let alone five!).

nervousnails not one person I know has a waterbutt for their garden. 'Almost all' 😂 are you living in a stepford town?

I don't even know what a Waterbutt is

The obvious - but costly - option would be to build a fuck off big pipe north to south, and send the unwanted water there. Would be a shit load more useful to more people (and cheaper) than HS2

So northerners should sit under the rain clouds, have fuck all money spent on our infrastructure (railway/motorways/schools etc) while money is poured into the south east by Central Government and then you get to take our fucking water too?? Really fucks me off. The South East does not have the natural resources to handle the number of people living there. Perhaps the answer could be investment in other areas of the country with more space and more water???

tootiredtobeinspired

Quite agree !

"Almost all the Houses in the UK have water butts to collect rainwater. We have 5 and all 5 have run dry because we have had no rain for weeks now."

I've never heard of a eater butt. But either you use an enormous amount of water or water butts are small. A domestic 'stuck next to the washing line down the side of the house' water tank usually holds 5000l. So with 5 of them, you should be fine through summer.

Oh good grief. Water Butt, not eater butt.

Thames Water were recently fined for not for this fixing enough leaks so not surprisingly there is a water shortage in their region.

Oh and in Northern Ireland there will be a hosepipe ban from this weekend.

Visiting my relatives, in Italy, the water supply was only on 6am-8am in the morning (there was a man whose job it was to turn the tap on. If he forgot, the town had no water for a day).

The house my father built had the top floor devoted to 3 massive water tanks (which were never full).

One year, the local council did some roadworks which meant the water supply had to be on during the day. My aunt acted like a schoolgirl - so pleased to top up the tanks.

Meanwhile, in Florida, some other relatives wanted to build a house, and the local planning requirements mandated that every property had to have it's own well. Digging the well cost almost as much as the house.

@seasidegAl2018 - thanks. I like it when someone who knows what they're talking about turns up on threads like this.

use your water butt and a watering can.
But if it isn't raining and hasn't done for ages, there wil be no water in the water butt surely!

Anyway, I wasn't aware of a hosepipe ban so it is good to know this might be a possibiliy

I am astonished really. People keep talking as if this hot weather has been going on for week. It really has not around here. Maybe for a week so far. It has been quite warm for a while before that but not the really hot 'no rain ' wether we are having in the last few days

Does no-one remember the massive thunderstorms and rains only a few weeks ago?
It will be over soon

I live in Australia where it doesn’t rain for months on end in summer, yet we can run sprinklers and fill our pools

Surprisingly, Australia is different to the UK! For a start, it's about 50 times larger and only has about 1/3 of the population.

South Australia definitely has water restrictions. All houses that are new builds have to have ample water tanks, bore water is used a lot more and swimming pools are required to have proper covering to help reduce evaporation. No one in my area uses sprinklers like when we were kids. Car washing is a full on business partly because they recycle the water.

I heard that part of the issue is that there is only a finite amount of water which can be physically stored - reservoirs, underground water tables etc and these are full and adequate but if people keep using water at the rate it has been used for the past few weeks and we dont get any rain to re-fill the storage places then we will be in trouble.

All I've heard is water companies asking people to be considerate when using water - and I will be telling my son not to wash his car this weekend!!

The obvious - but costly - option would be to build a fuck off big pipe north to south, and send the unwanted water there. Would be a shit load more useful to more people (and cheaper) than HS2

Yeah fuck those northerners who will need to give up their houses below market value due to CPOs or their environment being violated so a pipe could be put in! They're just dogs here to serve the south, after all .

I'm surprised it's taken so long for the ban tbh.
We used to have them when I was growing up, can remember some hot summers with no water.