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

115 replies

blackbirdbluebottle · 17/07/2018 07:56

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?

OP posts:
EdWinchester · 17/07/2018 11:32

We don’t have a hosepipe ban and my neighbour’s automatic sprinklers come on every evening and soak his massive lawn.

In a village where every other lawn is yellow, his is conspicuously verdant.

I think we should all be conserving water.

Gilead · 17/07/2018 11:35

Jorah you can clean them with a bucket and sponge. They don't need hosing.

agedknees · 17/07/2018 11:41

I’m in Spain. It hasn’t rained here for 12 weeks. Every day the sprinklers are on, grass is green, pavements hoseddown etc.

If they can do it why can’t we with our awful wet autumns, winters and spring.

TheFarmerWantsAWife · 17/07/2018 11:57

what really annoys me about this - is we have had a massive leak in our road for FOURTEEN DAYS!! the whole street have complained on a daily basis! Someone turned up once, marked it out and only returned yesterday to "assess it" again!

How can they seriously enforce a hosepipe ban when thousands upon thousands of gallons of water are washing down the street!

It's not a road with unusual/limited access, no vehicles are in the way, it's not on a main road so I can't understand why it's not been sorted.

agedknees · 17/07/2018 11:59

The farmer - it’s because they are idiots.

bluerunningshoes · 17/07/2018 12:35

yanbu

what's wrong with using the watering can.
we've been using bathwater to water the veg for weeks to conserve water.

just returned from holiday in spain.
all tapwater (and swimming pool water) was seawater, filtered but still very salty.
fresh water expensive to buy in supermarkets in the quantities you need for cooking as well as drinking and washing your face (the tapwater stings your eyes).

AirForce0ne · 17/07/2018 12:53

I have a lot more hatred for the irresponsible idiots who decide to smoke and throw their cigarette buts by the window (at least 3 fields on fire in the last week around here), have a barbecue in a park (1 small fire stopped by residents who rushed with their own hosepipes) or decide to start a bonfire in their garden - the smoke pollution stinking the entire neighbourhood should be enough to get them fined, but some numpty even managed to set fire to their own house last week!

When the land is dry, things catch on fire, how difficult can it be to get that? I don't know what exact means are used to try to stop them, but in at least one case it was definitively a waste of a lot of water.

OhGodWhatTheHellNow · 17/07/2018 13:02

Irritatingly, my ILS live rurally on a hill, everytime their neighbour downhill runs his lawnsprinklers, their pressure goes south, and with no hopespipe ban here (Wales) he has been running his sprinklers around the clock. He has a lovely green lawn, they have no water. He is a twat, water board just shrug.

Our house was built in c1900 with a full rainwater collection system it's a bit bonkers actually, we've calculated it can hold up to 50,000 litres, and is great if you like ginormous galvanised tanks built into your house, we also have a well and I do think that this is the way to go if you can make the room to have a substantial cistern.

Two of ours are buried under the yard. This could be designed in with newbuilds, but I know of several large rural houses built recently, and none of them have included a system like this. They're happy enough to install solar panels...

suzy2b · 17/07/2018 13:09

Al the people who want to water their gardens what are you doing with your washing up water and the water from your washing machines and bath water

GerdaLovesLili · 17/07/2018 13:11

I've always used the paddling pool water to water my veggies afterwards....

BigSandyBalls2015 · 17/07/2018 13:23

How can you use water from a washing machine??!!! Am I missing something here?

AirForce0ne · 17/07/2018 13:29

How can you use water from a washing machine??!!!

Bare with me, I am not technical! In short, the waste water comes out of an open outside pipe in my garden that goes into a "gutter hole" in the ground. We just added another pipe so it goes a bit further into the garden.

Same thing with the showers pipes, we just extended the pipes. We have 2 water butts on each side of the house to collect the soapy water.

It's temporary, we can take them on and off easily.

The only waste pipes that are completely enclosed are THANKFULLY the toilet waste pipes!

halfwitpicker · 17/07/2018 13:30

Apparently the last really hot summer was 1976. That's a while ago.

halfwitpicker · 17/07/2018 13:31

Oh, aged knees, where to begin?

AirForce0ne · 17/07/2018 13:44

that kind of shows how I get the water from bathrooms and machines

First England Hosepipe Ban! AIBU to think that some people are really selfish?
RIPWalter · 17/07/2018 13:46

I live in Snowdonia and we are on a private water supply (bore hole well shared with 2 neighbours). It has been struggling for over month now. The heavy rain forecast for yesterday, turned out to be a measly 5mm. People with stream fed supplies are either surviving on a trickle or have lost there supply completely already.

We have a house pipe and paddling pool ban on force for the 3 properties and DD and ndn DS are having bucket baths, which I then empty into a water butt for use on the garden (to be fair they both love their bucket baths). Other ndn have had to stop using there spare room for air bnb in order to reduce usage (which is tough for them as it is peak season).

No rain forecast for at least another 7 days. So might have to start cutting back further.

GameOfMinges · 17/07/2018 14:07

I would hope those who are able have been taking baths instead of showers since the water warnings started a few weeks ago! And taking very short showers at that. We don't give a shit about a yellow lawn anyway, but if we did want to water it we wouldn't have any bath water and even if you put the plug in as you shower, there's not enough of it to be able to get it into a jug very easily.

Tippexy · 17/07/2018 14:11

@nannybeach I can’t believe you’re choosing to inconvenience your lives to such an extent

GameOfMinges · 17/07/2018 14:12

I would like one of those washing machine pipe things though! We could use that on the lawn and also we do have fruit trees that would probably benefit. Do you have to drill a hole in the wall? How does it work? Excuse me if this is a bleeding obvious and stupid question.

AirForce0ne · 17/07/2018 14:16

no, the pipe existed before, and there's enough gap between original pipe and the hole in the ground to fit a plastic "thingy" admire the technical term to bring the water in the garden. (see the white pipe in the bad pic I put above).

I didn't do it myself, clearly, but it was just a question of putting an adapter and another pipe.

Jorah · 17/07/2018 15:09

Gilead yes that's true but I fill the bucket with a hose!!

Yoksha · 17/07/2018 15:26

I remember the standpipes from 1976. Have carried on my thriftiness since. I will respect the 'no hosepipe ' ban, but I won't grass on my neighbours watering their plants.

The police won't come out for rapes, robberies and other crimes against people, so how are they going to police this?

Yy to poster ^^ who mentioned quadrilla. That sets my teeth on edge.

Won't be surprised tho if they do enforce this, because it's always been profits over people.

Just carry on doffing our caps.

nannybeach · 17/07/2018 17:06

There is a huge ammount of difference between playing a hose on your garden and using a watering can, I can see for filling the kids paddling pool it wouldnt make any difference, saw 2 neighbours at the weekend, one had a sprinkler in full sun lunch time on his crappy lawn, notice i didnt say grass because its full of weeds, the other washing his ampervan with a hose.We lived in Surrey in 76, didn have standpipes, my DH says they did in London. My plants cost thousands, a lot are irreplaceable, so I have reduced to twice weekly shower, instead of daily, just a small basin of water to wash, and that goes on the veg plot.

flopsyrabbit1 · 17/07/2018 17:29

well to everybody worrying about their grass it will be fine

every year for the past 6 we have had a 10ft pool in the back garden,on grass,the pool sits on an old trampoline base and is up for 6-8 wks,never taken down or moved

at the end of the summer their is very little grass and almost a bold circle with a few bits of yellow crass

it comes back great every year,never needed to re seed just takes a couple of months to repair itself

seriously it will be fine

DamsonPie · 17/07/2018 17:49

My neighbours are using sprinklers at night when they think nobody is watching. I’d grass them up if I thought the police would give a damn. They don’t even address actual crimes never mind illicit water usage.

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