AIBU to be angry about hosepipe bans and whether people will comply?

[liquidfinch]

AIBU to be so angry about the hosepipe bans and the situation we find ourselves in?!

If we keep having these heatwaves AND hosepipe bans the future is going to become utterly unbearable.

I read somewhere that it's not even about us running out of water this year! The water companies are just worried about having to supply what we need because it will impact their environmental targets (they want to reduce water use per capita).

If they don't hit these targets it could reduce their bonuses and/or they might be fined.

These bans will have enormous adverse impacts on nature and ecosystems.

If we can't water our gardens, plants and parks wildlife will suffer. Pollinators especially. I think it's appalling.

Are you ready for the hosepipe ban?

Have you taken any measures (buying water butts, filling up pools) to mitigate the impact this will have on your normal routine/enjoyment of your home/garden/life?

Most importantly: are you going to comply?

• Cambridge Water:

Active as of July 9, and enforceable from 1am on Friday, July 17.

• Southern Water:

Enforced starting from 1am on July 11.

• South East Water:

Enforced starting from July 18.

🙈

I will keep using it regardless. The water companies have spent decades giving money to their shareholders rather than updating their infrastructure. They are consistently polluting the waterways and are upping bills to keep paying their Directors etc even more money. No doubt they will ensure the data centres are not short of water. So I will use what I want.

My beautiful garden is dying, all the money and love that I’ve invested on plants and trees is going to fail. I will leave the lawn to go brown as it will recover, but I’m not going to let my newly planted trees and plants die, we need these for biodiversity. I have a big garden and I can’t carry a heavy watering can as I have arthritis so i will use a hose. (Maybe I can get an exemption I’m not sure?) I have a huge water butt and I’m mindful with water elsewhere but sometimes this mentality that we can all just use a watering can is not practical. I live in the southeast and we have had endless problems with weeks of no water. So I like many others feel slightly rebellious and angry to be honest. They are not reinvesting, they are not fixing leaks they are only paying dividends to the rig ineffectual shareholders and they continue to build. It needs to be nationalised and if we all comply the real problem is being masked.

We haven’t yet run out this year - got really close though! Thankfully we’ve had some rain in between the roasting bits.
I think most people massively underestimate how much water they use when watering and overestimate how much they think a 100l water butt can hold, then complain that water butts are pointless! 🙄

They system was a bit fiddly to set up and there are things we’d change about it if starting from scratch now, but it works and that’s the main thing. It also saves us loads on our water bill as we realised that most of the water from the hose isn’t actually used by the plants so we were basically pouring cash away.

Another bonus is that in this weather we don’t have to get hot & bothered wandering round the garden in the heat with a hosepipe! Sitting back in the garden with a G&T listening to the neighbours getting cross about dragging the hose around makes the initial effort and expense seem worthwhile.😂

Sounds like you should be able to get an exemption. Take a look on your supplier's website to see if you can be added to their list.

You might need a note from your GP to confirm your condition.

I'm sure you can just phone the reception or you could use the online consultation form, if your surgery uses that service.

Take care and best of luck with your garden x

Farming animals is a massive drain (and waste) on water resources. I’d be well annoyed if you asked that of me.

Not sure if you were answered - but you pop onto the website and register yourself as a priority user. If you have a blue badge you would declare it here, but so long as you are diagnosed you can declare it there. Did it this afternoon as not only does it mean our household would be exempt from a ban, but apparently they will bring bottled water to our home if there is an outage.

How does the switch divert the water?

Here you go!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/ethical_living/5552567-positive-action-on-water-conservation

All practical suggestions welcome!

This sounds great. Would you mind telling me more about what dippers and equipment you bought to set this up please, maybe on this thread? https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/ethical_living/5552567-positive-action-on-water-conservation

everyone needs those 1000 liters industrial water contrainers, and use them when needed

You are welcome

I agree with you OP and the other posters talking about the greed of water companies. I am not going to water my lawn, but I have a big garden and a meadow full of bees and there is no way I am going to carry a watering can around it all. I have a water butt so water as much as I can with watering can. I won’t let my garden die. It’s a haven for insects, I have planted fruit trees this year too and it would be worse for nature if we left it to die.

Yes similar, we have no lawn, its patio but I have over 100 pots, Ive just been watering them with the hose and there is a ban here. I could hear two neighbours outside as well so someone will wonder if they can report me. But as I said upthread, I applied for an exemption, we are on the priority user list. I cant use a watering can due to my hands and I use the same amount of water as a can anyway as in the past Ive tried it that way, but rather than take half hour which is what its just taken me, it would take about an hour.

Nope. I will be having my sprinkler on every other day.

Ha for the first time in years and years we have just been told we will have a ban.

So ill top up the pool tonight and fill all my butts 😜

As I expect everyone else will as well reading the comments on the local paper. There was also a lot of they can fuck off I pay my direct debit comments. As well as all the exemptions being post.

Why are you so special?

double post

I feel the same. I've got an orchard as well as a variety of shrubs, spread out across my garden. I'm not about to let them wither.

There isn’t a hosepipe ban in our area but I can’t really see the problem with using a hose with a handheld trigger to water a pot? You put the nozzle near the roots and just use it on a gentle pressure for 10-20 seconds. It uses exactly the same amount of water as using exactly the same nozzle to fill the watering can and carry it to the pots. As soon as you let go of the trigger, the water stops flowing. At the end a small amount of water is still in the hose, which you can either leave there for next time or empty into the nearest plant.

We don’t have a sprinkler and would never, ever water the lawn or anything planted in the ground. That has always seemed a pointless exercise to me. Who cares if a lawn goes yellow for a while? It always recovers after the summer (even in the recent very dry summers when everything, even the trees, were yellow) and the garden is mostly large shrubs anyway. We live in a very wooded area and I can assure you that trees were not dying during those long dry periods!

Despite there being no hosepipe ban in my area I am happy to do my bit with some cooking and washing-up water re-use, but there is also the question of fairness. Google maps arial views shows me that quite a few people in my area have swimming pools. Why should it be ok for one family to have a pool, which I imagine needs topping up, yet another is supposed to avoid sensible hose usage, as described above?

I agree with conserving water but it all needs more nuance.

Sadly, I suspect that none of the non compliers will read your post or care.

I am angry at the water companies mismanagement of resources, the undeserved bonuses that their CEOs receive and the fact that dividends for the shareholders come before providing a decent service.

MurunBuchstansangursCousinRossiter · Yesterday 17:02
I absolutely won’t comply.

However, the selfish non compliers like the above poster will make it worse for everyone if they continue to ignore requests to cut back on water usage. The "I'm alright Jack" attitude is no better than that of the water companies, which should never have been privatised in the first place.

There isn’t a hosepipe ban in our area but I can’t really see the problem with using a hose with a handheld trigger to water a pot? You put the nozzle near the roots and just use it on a gentle pressure for 10-20 seconds. It uses exactly the same amount of water as using exactly the same nozzle to fill the watering can and carry it to the pots.

I agree. This is how I water my plants.

Speaking of making it worse for everyone. Are you vegan?

I'm not a vegan myself but do you realise that - if you eat meat or indeed keep livestock like the farmer - you are making it worse for everyone because water is "wasted" on the cows? Could just eat vegetables and save the planet if that's what you really care about.

But you probably don't really care about that. What you care about is living an enjoyable life. Just like me. And just like the "selfish non compliers"

The selfishness on this thread is something to behold. Like the people who keep their engines running in a heatwave because of the aircon. Petrol is still too cheap...

I am not vegan but I don't eat red meat. And dairy from local farms is better for the environment than vegan alternatives brought in from other countries.

It's also time people started buying plants that can survive dry summers (though I appreciate that doesn't help with the plants you've had for years, but water butts and watering cans exist and you can also use grey water from washing up etc).

Why don't you give up the dairy? Do you realise how much damage cows make to the environment and global warming? Why are you being selfish?

Edit: assuming you eat fish? do you understand what damage you're causing aquatic ecosystems by supporting the fishing trade? why are you selfish?

a special double post?