To just ignore the hose pipe ban this year

[Shan5474]

I know using a hose pipe is against the rules so I am BU but I’m fed up.

I live alone with no kids, all the neighbouring houses have at least four people in the family. I love gardening and I grow fruit, veg and flowers in a medium-sized garden. Last year we had a hose pipe ban almost solidly from May-October. We have one every summer (south coast).

I want to be a good person/neighbour, I just get so bloody frustrated when I can hear my neighbour’s shower drain constantly or them splashing in hot tubs/paddling pools in the summer while I’m taking ages filling watering can after watering can, when it would only take 5-10 mins to water the garden with a hose sprayer.

WIBU to just quickly use the hose in the summer? The neighbours can hear it, will they judge me? I know water use is per person not per household but the amount of showering/clothes washing/dishwasher use in the neighbouring houses must be way more than the extra water I’d use by just running the hose

You’re not being unreasonable and I agree it’s really unfair.

How bloody ridiculous. You’re using the water anyway filling the watering can! I would just crack on, use the hose (obviously only as much as you need to) and not give it a second thought.

If the local authority think they can earn something from it they’ll have drones up clocking ppls back gardens and flower beds.

You risk making it so you and all your neighbours are more likely to have a standpipe. So yes, YABU.

Why is it relevant that you live on your own and your neighbour’s don’t?

Because she’s using much less water than her neighbours?

Of course you're being unreasonable. The fact that it's annoying isn't relevant.

OP

Are you taking the mick?

How does the OP knw that??

Beside the point, but have you got water butts?
It's better for some plants, and if you have ones that you can just dunk the watering can in the top they are much quicker than waiting for a tap to fill up the cans.

Not per person, per person she is using more.

OP - YABU.

How are they filling up pools during a hosepipe ban?

Just use the hose. I will be this year. I’m not letting all my plants die because the water company can’t sort out its leaks.

I agree that hosepipe bans are a very blunt instrument. It seems so stupid/unfair that there are people taking 15 minute showers daily, yet someone who showers for three minutes every other day can't use the same amount of water on their garden via a hosepipe.

Unlikely. People living in a household of 4 use, on average, 112.5 liters of water a day. People living on their own use, on average, 149 liters of water per day.

And hose pipes use, on average, 170 liters every 10 minutes.

Shower in the garden :)

Ignoring whether it's right or wrong, what about getting a trickle waterer that you can hook up to a tap. Something like this. It would be far less obvious to neighbours. You could also get a timer so it runs overnight, which would be even less noticeable and more efficient as it's cooler, so less evaporation.

Argh, human beings 🤦🏼😬 he's used too much for his shower so I'm going to use too much too...

And this, folks, is why the human race will never ever survive the climate crisis. Too many selfish people on the planet. I despair. There's just no collective mindset is there for protecting Ur greater good as a species.

It's not that you would be using your hose because there having long showers, you both need to think of the poor planet. Anyway...

We're on the south coast too and our water board allow you to use hosepipes if it's to maintain fruit / veg crops. And other things like new plants etc. maybe yours is the same?

Where is still under a hosepipe ban? And have your local water company said you'll have one this summer?

I'm in Cornwall, it's been appallingly wet here all winter and they've confirmed no likelihood of a ban this summer!

Yabu. The water restrictions are for a reason. Of course families will use more. But that doesn't mean you can waste extra water

Hot tubs aren't refilled every time. Paddling pools are normally filled with a hose so report them if it makes you happy. They could have lo-flow shower heads. And people need to do washing.

Why not use grey water? Or a trickle system? Or a rain butt or a thousand other methods to preserve water.

Just use it. I can’t see there being a ban this year seeing as it’s rain almost constantly for 6 months. I don’t have a tap in my back garden so I have water butts and use a watering can, it’s a bit of a pain on often my lawn dies (but it browns back). I do have a hose out the front of my house which I use to wash my car.

Can't you just use grey water? Keep your bath or put the plug in when you shower? That's what my parents have always done during a hosepipe ban and they are pretty successful veg growers.

I had to check to see if this was a zombie thread because where is there likely to be a hosepipe ban this year ? Do you live somewhere in the UK with a particular weather/geographical/geological formation that makes it unusually prone to hosepipe bans every summer? It’s been raining so much this year ( SE) that all the reservoirs are filled, the rivers are running high, the aquifers are being topped up, crops are flooded, the parks are full of standing water because the ground can’t take any more………

Set up an irrigation system on a timer. As far as I'm aware, this is allowed during a hosepipe ban.