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.

Leeds-Liverpool. To be honest…farmers have a hard enough time, they don’t need me sticking my nose in. I was just curious.

It’s a shame that we only have the one water supply. In most ‘hot’ countries, they have a binary system where ‘brown water (untreated) can be access to water lawns etc without impacting the clean water supply that runs separately. Means the water being sprinkled on the lawns and golf courses at night can be a bit -erm - pungent but gardens (and associated wildlife) are protected.

Sadly, given we don’t seem to be able to maintain the system we’ve got efficiently, I can’t see something similar being rolled out here, though it would ideal as I assume that it could potentially be used to for industrial cooling (with some sort of filter system) there by leaving the clean water supply for residential use.

I did wonder if that was possible because it would make so much more sense for everyone to have a garden tap that’s not drinking water.

You have to have abstraction licences from the Environment Agency. It’s a tightly controlled thing and there a lot of restrictions and hoops to jump through. And somewhere to abstract from!

We have back up tanks but the water pressure is so low right not they hadn’t filled up. The water pressure is even lower today because they’ve announced a hosepipe ban in our area….tomorrow. So everyone must be filling their pools today!

During a hosepipe ban, you are permitted to fill a watering can or bucket with a hosepipe...funny how that is rarely mentioned.

I normally leave the hose running into the watering can. It's a bit cumbersome, but it saves lugging a full can/bucket around.

As soon as the water goes in, it comes straight out again. No spillage or waste.

So you could effectively attach the watering can to the hosepipe and water as normal?

I got the notification about this and I’ll just be ignoring it. Our garden isn’t overlooked so who’s going to know anyway? 🤷‍♀️ Thing is, our garden isn’t huge and it’s mostly patio with pot plants. If I just fill a watering can, I’ll just use the same amount of water anyway. If I use the hose, I don’t have to drag around a heavy can.

That's what I do.
I mean, it's very vague, but I don't see why not.

ETA. The hose technically isn't attached, it's just stuffed in and open, iyswim.

Well you're unlikely to be prosecuted but if you were, they'd look at the spirit of the law as well as the letter.

Mow less, leave your garden to go wild. It'll do what it needs to do. I water veg as little as possible because it's too much effort when it's hot.
Here in the NW we had a fairly dry winter and it's not really got over that.

True. We have a blue badge, so we are someone covered. My concern is the pollinator plants as we designed the garden deliberately to attract bees and butterflies and are now awash with them.

its a double win though, bath water is not wasted, and you get your steps up..?

Absolutely.

Why hundreds of times?

Just how much water does PP use for a bath?

Thank you for the info!

lol at the thought of it. I live in a very big house with a big garden so that’s a no.

Affinity Water has just announced one for Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Surrey and parts of London. I'm in Herts and very annoyed about this like you, OP!

Thank you

Well I see the rain that was forecast on my app this morning has poof gone.

Very helpful.

Last year I believe that Yorkshire Water were the first to instigate a hosepipe ban. This year, thanks to a wet winter and spring, our reservoirs are currently at 75% compared to the 53.8% in July 2025, and "a hosepipe ban is not expected to be put in place in Yorkshire this summer".

We haven't got a ban yet but surely the need for one signals the inadequacy of the water companies. Here, in SW Cornwall, where my water rates have more than doubled, it rained from December until May. I can hardly remember a dry day. I don’t think I'm imagining that. So where did all that water go?

Down the storm drains with the rest of the sewage.
Also with SWWater.

Time to rethink privatisation of the water companies or any public service company.