My Parents are a bit selfish don't you think?

[waterlegoblocks]

My Parents live in an area where the water companies have set messages to everyone telling them not to use hosepipes over the coming days due to the extreme heat. When I spoke to my parents earlier they said they are still going to use the hosepipe as they pay a lot of money for water usage and if they are not going to receive a discount for being told not to use water they are going to carry on using it as they like to water their garden most days during the Summer.

Tbf I see their point🤷🏻‍♀️

In our area, it’s not the fact the aquifers are dry, they’re nearly full, it’s the demand all at once for large volumes of water meaning that water pressure drops & service is disrupted this way (had my twin sis who works in operations at a water company talking about it at our bbq today lol).

We have water butts & use grey water, as my sister would probably moan me into an early grave if I didn’t!

They should water using a watering can. Just the most vulnerable or important plants.

This.

I'm filling up the kids' paddling pool tomorrow so they can cool down in the extreme heat. It's a normal sized one from the supermarket, not a swimming pool. DH will also be using the hose to water the bloody trees he insists on growing in pots all round the garden. He grows them from seed and has a group of volunteers who plant them in schools with the children. I'm not going to judge your parents for using a non-obscene amount of water in their garden.

My guess the different chemicals in the water mixing, then could alter the ph levels of the soil and plants.

The western part of the U.S. is in a 1000-year drought. It’s incredibly serious.

But apparently, Kourtney Kardashian thinks she’s special — she’s something like 245% over her yearly water allotment for her $8million home. And she evidently doesn’t give a shit.

Several other celebrities are over their allotments too - I forget who they are, but it pisses me off when farmers are going bankrupt and have to plow under their crops because these arseholes are wasting water just to keep their lawns green and their pools full.

@SaintHelena

Tell the water company is using drones to see where people have green lawns and gardens so they can prosecute 😂

I like your thinking but imagine all the gardens with artificial lawns would skew the results...

Swimming pools are getting a lot of criticism but some of it is misplaced. You don't empty and refill them each year. We've done that once in 13 years as it was a muddy bog and we had to pay a pool company to bring specialist pump equipment as there's no draining mechanism in the pool.

You do top it up but that's probably a couple of cm per year. You're also legally obligated to install a water meter. It uses less water than the big paddling pools come small swimming pools that are refilled each year. Personally I wouldn't put in a swimming pool as they're a pain in the arse to maintain but it can be quite expensive to fill them in (my mum's friend was quoted £25k to fill hers in, which is mad).

@brown543 you’re right, my son bought a house with a pool a few years ago. It’s only been refilled once after some necessary maintenance work was carried out.

i’m another who uses washing up water for my garden pots, and when I rinse bottles before I bin them, I empty those into plants too. We have a water butt too.

If I had a water butt attached to my downpipe, I wouldn't be able to get up the steps to my garden to water it!

I've had to give up watering. Because the garden slopes uphill, the water pressure isn't enough to do it with a hose and I can longer lug a watering can up the steps. The ground at the far end of the garden is practically level with my first floor windows.

I long for a level garden. It's on my list of must-haves for my next move.

It's a hosepipe ban, not a water ban!

From what I understand water butts are attached to your downpipe to collect the gutter water? We don’t have a downpipe both front and back the downpipes are on our neighbour’s property.

similar with the bath water, we don’t have a shower so only have baths. To collect this water though would require the water to travel uphill to reach any storage container so not sure how this would work?

It is selfish and self defeating if we end up with standpipes., however…..
When water was publicly owned and supplied purely for public benefit people were more responsive to appeals to cut back.
Now our water is owned by foreign companies which pollute our rivers, extract hundreds of millions in profits and dividends and pay the bosses fat salaries for running monopolies.
Many people have water meters and therefore feel that as they are paying it’s their choice to use it or not.
Progress is great isn’t it.

I'll stop using my water that I pay for when companies start fixing THEIR leaks which result in 3 billions litres of lost water every DAY.

It is selfish, yes. We have to make our peace with the fact that grass won't look pretty. They should really water only those very sensitive plants. We use water can to water raspberry and blackberry, because they give us fruit. Rest of the garden needs to deal on its own.

Absolutely.

This. I have birds, bees, butterflies, hedgehogs, and a multitude of other insects and small animals who visit my garden. I fill up 2 birdbaths with water, and also 2 water bowls for bees and any other insects, and I fill 5 bird feeders with food. (Along with leaving food out for hedgehogs - and water of course.)

I also water my many dozens of flowers and plants. Like fuck am I not going to do that. As I (and a few others have said,) until the water companies fix the pipes and sewers that piss away 100s of millions of gallons of water a year away, they can get tae fuck with telling me I can't use water for my plants and flowers, and the wild animals and birds and insects that visit my garden.

And anyone saying it's 'entitled boomers' using all the water can get tae fuck too. As a pp said, there are plenty using water for hot tubs and kids paddling pools, and THEY are not 'boomers.' Such a shitty, ageist comment. Shame on anyone who says that. Have a word with yourself.

@WhileMyGuitarGentlyWeeps agree 100%

😘

There are absolutely boomers with hot tubs, but otherwise fully agree.

My dad is a boomer... I cant imagin him pissing about watering flowers, certainly no swimming pools and hot tubs or water balloon fights although he may have a bath lol, my Gen X mother wouldnt be into those things either and only has quick showers.

My kids however have had 'water fight day' at school today and we have spent the last 2 weekends at the splash park which is a huge public park with a zone that has a multitude of sprinkers and water guns and its only ever open and on in weather like this - definately for the enjoyment of Gen Z and Gen Alpha not boomers lol.

@waterlegoblocks
If it's to keep grass green and flowers pretty, versus drinking water yes they're selfish.

If it's to water fruit and veg that will be eaten not selfish.

Our water company is saying use a bowl not the dishwasher

I think that this depends on how you wash up.
If everything goes in the bowl dirty and is washed in that one bowl of water and not washed before or after, yes less than a dishwasher.

If washed off before going in the bowl, plus after washing and possibly multiple bowls of greasy or dirty water etc, quite possibly not.

We use the dw roughly every 4 days. I rinse off anything very dirty but would reckon that this is far lesser than the comparable bowl, as frequently when I was in the bowl I have filled the bowl get distracted and come back and the process would have started again , so dw all the way!