First England Hosepipe Ban! AIBU to think that some people are really selfish?

[blackbirdbluebottle]

The first England hosepipe ban this year comes into force for United Utilities users from this Sunday. Despite this ban nearly all the comments on one post are saying if their kids want a swimming pool they will use the hosepipe to fill up the pool! AIBU to think that this is really selfish of people to fill up a swimming pool for their kids when the water will be wasted soon after the kids have used it?

Are United Utilities going to be partially refunding customers then, seeing as UU can’t provide the service they’re contractually liable for, due to their own mismanagement/wastage?

But doesn't the UU ban only come in on 5th August? Why such a delay?? I'm in the NW and we have had a few heavy downpours and both my water butts are full.

Yes these people are selfish. I had a new lawn laid 10 weeks ago, it's beautiful and I don't want it to die so I've been putting the plug in the bath when I have a shower and traipsing up and down stairs with the watering can so I can keep watering it every other day. Plants get watered with my washing up water. Yes it's a bit more effort than switching the hose on and yes it's a drop in the ocean compared to the water companies' leakage, but I'm not responsible for their wastefulness, only my own.

@givemesteel wow selfish much? Your plants aren't as important as the people you're depriving of water. It's a ban, you shouldn't be filling up a paddling pool, no matter how small you think it is. Perhaps you can post a picture of it? Bet its not that small...

Fair enough about UU's wastage, but the whole area is running low on water as the fire brigade have been fighting three huge moorland fires for weeks now, the lions share of water from all over (stand pipes n Wales included) has been sprayed n tipped over miles of moorland due to thoughtless cockwombles being funny n lighting fires.

The torrential rain we had over Oldham/Manchester last night while no where being enough to fill the low level water stores helped soak the moors n hopefully there's more rain to come.

Sadly UU won't refund customers, they just expect them to follow orders. Fracking and businesses should have water restrictions same as their customers and they shouldn’t be allowed to have extortionate pay packets and allowed to make high profits :/

I am in Lancs, NDN waters their lawn twice a day, will keep a lookout to see if they do it today.

My garden is all yellowy and wilted but I dont give a shite! It will regrow again.

As I understand it hopefully, people use more water when they're watering plants etc with hosepipes than with a watering can. That's what I have always read. I suppose because it's so easy to use a lot with a hosepipe or a sprinkler without noticing, whereas when you're fetching and carrying it yourself, not so.

I'll still be using a hose to rinse off my horses and to fill their water troughs.

I am very surprised we havent had a hose pipe ban yet, I am in the SE, we havent had any rainf for 7 weeks now. This is typical of the utilites, too little too late, I have an 8th acre garden, grow a lot of my own veg. DH errected new fence in April, couple of ton of top soil, and planted with shrubs,perennials, a few annuals, some have already died. I have 4 water butts, they have been empty over a month, I have to fill them, we have a pond with fish, the water had to be de-chlocinated before it can be added to pond which evaporates this weather. I have stopped having daily shower/hair (just wash,small basin water) DH shower only after days work (garage,gets filthy) to use the water on the plants/veg, we have always done the "if its yellow let it mellow" thing. am scooping out washing up water for plants, keeping water from shower,we have 20 year old rhododendrons, which couldnt be replaced, a 20 year old grapefruit DH grew from a pip, definietley NOT replaceable. 2 neighbours, on Saturday we went out noticed one has a sprinkler going on his "lawn" south facing in the afternoon AND in full sun, I put lawn in speach marks because it is full of weeds, its not a bowling reen. Bloke next to him washed his van with a hose. My garden is watered before 7am after 7pm, no sun on it. I dont know what we will do if it gets to the situation of 1976.There is a lot of waste, leaking pipes, It rains in didderent areas of the UK, we have frequent floods, countries like Soudi have little rain fall they manage. Its like the old "leaves on the line", snow, this country cannot seem to cope with anything.

Tbf, the government need to invest in desalination systems seen as were surrounded by water. It's their fault if we don't have enough water.

@Tippexy exactly!
We are literally surrounded by water - they need to do more investment in desalination and manage their service better.

We wont get a refund or discount and are expected to pay the same amount for nothing? This would be less annoying if we could choose who supplies our water but we can't !

Fill up the pool with a bit of water from washing up bowl if it's really small, can keep doing it. It's not a hosepipe.

Cherry most people who have pools don’t use a washing up bowl to fill a tiny pool they use a hosepipe to fill a huge swimming pool.

Not read the full thread, but whilst yes saying I’ll just use the hosepipe anyway is selfish and shortsighted, you need to understand that this is happening in an area where fracking is taking place and more fracking is in the pipeline elsewhere in the region. All of this is not wanted by the local communities, their councils and MPs. It uses vast amounts of water too, so to these communities it’s like a slap in the face - yes we will force you to have environmentally damaging industry in your previously lovely semi rural area, potentially cause earthquakes, noise and visual pollution, damage animal life and environment all whilst putting up your water bills and not letting you use it in a hot spell. I can understand why people are pissed off tbh. It has just as much to do with the government overriding the local councils on fracking as it does with the ineptitude of UU.

Cherry most people who have pools don’t use a washing up bowl to fill a tiny pool they use a hosepipe to fill a huge swimming pool.

Obviously. I was giving advice to get around the hosepipe fan and still fill up a swimming pool.

Btw when I say semi-rural I mean in a rural area in some cases within 2 miles of a largish suburb (20,000+ inhabitants)

Makes me glad I've got a koi pond.

Exempt from the ban!

I live in the SW so not directly affected. My mum is and she's still exempt because she's disabled.

im in the far south and no rain at all since May,hands up i have one of them 10ft pools,the water stays in and its treated so dont need to empty

of course you do the odd top up but its not used every day

i cant imagine with these pools that you wouldnt water treat it as it takes 6-7 hrs to fill,do people empty these pools all the time,its a faff and by leaving the water in it warms up and feels like a cool bath

if the kids use the pool then dont need a bath,but i do get that they take huge amounts of water

i wouldnt bother with it if i had to keep emptying it to be honest but has been great for the kids and their mates,they literally will spend hours in it

I dunno if we need to start looking at desalination yet, we could manage the existing water supply better and see where that leaves us first. Worth pointing out that January, March and April were wetter than usual this year.

www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries

We obviously are having a drier patch than normal now, notwithstanding the recent rain in the area UU covers, but there is no reason why we couldn't have gone into it with much better reserves than we did. The north west hasn't actually had less rainfall or a lower than average percentage of normal than other areas even of England. Yes, obviously the moor fires have been a problem specific to us... but again, we could have been tackling them with much better reserves, and with a system that wasn't leaking a shameful amount.

To those who are planning to use a watering can instead of a hose, what do you think the difference is? You’re still using the same water
Exhaustion and boredom tends to ensure it's nowhere near the same amount of water.

I'll still be using a hose to rinse off my horses
Horses don't need rinsing off.

Some people are being twats, that is true.

Other families can be sensible, sorry, and they are careful as a rule, so using their little paddling pool is not going to make any difference. No bath for the family, just very quick shower: wet flannel, soap the turn shower on for quick rinse.
Using the paddling pool water for the plants, which would be watered anyway.
Keeping water from bath/shower drain and use to water plants too (soap tend to kill all the bugs and the plants grow wonderfully).

Having 2 flushes on your toilets: for light and heavy flushes.
Washing machines and dish washer full, use a lot less water than hand washing.

There's a huge difference between people who think the rules don't apply to them, and the ones who judge but are happy to spend 15mn in the shower, and leave the water running whilst they wash themselves for example.

For those in the ban area, UU have some gadgets you can order to help you save water.

www.unitedutilities.com/help-and-support/save-water/

Gilead

Yes they do after riding when they are sweaty. If you don't rinse off sweat they can get rubs where the tack goes.