Hosepipe ban not in force until next week. Kids Pool, wwyd?

[MrsWidgerysLodger]

As per the title really, we're in Yorkshire and our hosepipe ban doesn't kick in until end August. DD has been asking to have the pool out but I'm on the fence about it given all the press about water shortages etc. So Munsnetters, WWYD? Do I put the pool up for the weekend or say no?

Fill it up, get some of those pool clear chemicals to keep it clean. Sieve out grass/ insects etc.

This..
ours has been up since the first heatwave. we were due to take it down once the weather turned and we were away for a week but due to the imposing ban in our area we kept it up. personly I would put it up before the ban comes Into effect in your area.

Do it. It's normal water usage. Presumably you're paying for your water? You're also therefore paying your water company to sort out leaks and build reservoirs. They're not doing this, hence the problems we're having. You using a garden pool has a vanishingly small impact compared to the impact of big corporations not doing what they should.

We need to stop turning on each other over minor supposed environmental infractions and start directing our attentions to commercial companies we pay to do stuff but who fail to do it.

Our hose pipe ban has come in today. last night I put 2 inches of water in our small paddling pool, just enough for dd to splash around. Dd will use it all weekend as we're at home alot, then I'll use it to water our veg and strawberry plants we're propagating for next year. We've been limiting our water use for weeks already as its been so hot and dry here.

I’ll still be filling our tiny pool daily regardless it’s about 90cm wide and ds has autism and asks every day to go in

Buy chlorine, test strips and ph minus/ plus and you can use the same water for months at a time.

In my part of Yorkshire we’ve not had any significant rainfall since we moved here in May. Everything is brown and scorched. We mowed our lawn when we moved in, but haven’t had to since because it’s just not grown.

We’ve got light rain showers forecast for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. That’s not enough, we need it to chuck it down.

Maybe if the water companies did their job and built reservoirs and replaced and fixed leaky pipes instead of giving so much to shareholders I might have said don't fill it but since they don't do the above, carry on as usual

I’ve always had well water where I’ve lived, which had run out completely twice in my lifetime. I’ve really learned to conserve water as a consequence. When the well is getting low we have had to go down to the local stream and fill tubs up if we wanted to water plants or fill paddling pools (even had to do it to put the washing machine on or shower occasionally!). It really makes you think about what you’re using.

The sooner everyone has water meters the better! Everyone should be aware of what they’re using.

I'm not sure having a water meter stops usage, we have one but still water the garden, wash the car and stuff like that

I really hate the 'legally you can' argument, because we know there is a problem so knowingly wasting water now 'because they can' is ridiculous

This x 100.

Kids need to learn that how they act now will have a huge bearing on the difficulties they will suffer in the future. We reap what we sow........

Use batg and shower water to flush the toilet and water the plants. It's not difficult and it saves water and money

I would absolutely fill it up.
The public are not to blame for the lack of water.
Research how much water is being leaked by these companies daily and how much the top dogs are getting paid.

Replace water with gas/electric in your analgy. Of course you dont care enough at the moment about wasting water. Now make it go up in price 100x and see if you want to waste it. Water meters are the first step. Making water more expensive is the next step if we keep treating it as an infinite resource. Surely the current gas & electric situation has opened our eyes to this

Just fill it up why it’s still legal , let’s face it plenty of people will still be using them illegally after the ban comes in .

Actually I agree with previous poster that new houses/ population increases DO impact water shortage. According to ONS the town where my mum lives in kent had a 20% population increase between 2011 and 2021, I just can't see how that doesnt impact the water shortages in Kent???
Of course if you live in rural Wales like my MIL it rains frequently and and population is sparse there will be no change but in some parts of the country I think population increases and new houses can detrimentally impact water supplies.

Anyway to answer OPs question fill up the pool, add chlorine to prolong it's life and top up with buckets if needed.

Maybe not but it's everyone who is impacted. Grow up.

I'm sure people like you will be the first to moan when food prices go up as a result of failed crops, or water rationing starts beyond not being able to fill up a sodding paddling pool.

Just to counter that 90% of the housing in the area i live in has surface water collection systems which feed straight back into the water system. We were handed a plan of the site when we were considering and they took pride in showing us how it all links together.. We actually get a discount on our water bills because of it. It helps that we live in one of the wettest parts of the country.

New housing is needed everywhere. You can build new houses AND be socially conscious in many ways.

Say no.

Children need to understand disappointment, and saying no for something like this and explaining why is no bad thing.

Research how much water is being leaked by these companies daily and how much the top dogs are getting paid.

Currently 1000 Olympic sized swimming pools in leaking systems across the UK

Currently 1000 Olympic sized swimming pools in leaking systems across the UK

Per day

I'm so pleased the MN moralisers have found something they can sit in judgment on and pat themselves on the back for doing The Right Thing and being generally Better People.
They must have been at a loose end after lock down.

According to water.org, leakage is actually at the lowest level since the 90s. Obviously there's always more that can be done but the water companies do have challenging leakage fix targets and penalties for missing them. It infuriates me that people use this as an excuse to not take responsibility for their own actions.

OP, I recently had this dilemma. I ended up filling up the padding pool using 5 buckets of DC's bathwater, and then skipping their bath for two nights. I kept it in there for three days, then used it to water the plant tubs. I think I used less water overall by doing this.

We have no ban so I tipped ours up, also due to rain next week