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.

Are you on a water meter?

I won't comply until the water boards get their act together and fix the huge amounts of water they lose on leaks throughout the year. Hypocrites

Well, if water gets shut off everyone is affected. I vaguely remember that happening when I was very young in tbe 1970s. It came close as an adult when I was living in Cape Town.

Some people being selfish and ignoring a hosepipe ban/ rules about picking up dog crap aren't an excuse to also be a selfish jerk.

I didn't know this. That's appalling! Allotments and food crops in gardens and even flowers in gardens (given their necessity for insects) should all take priority over golf courses.

Golf courses are pretty for the environment already.

I mean to those who are saying it's no big deal, surely it depends on the size of your garden and how many plants you've got??? It's one thing if you've got a smallish garden or just a few pots - some gardens are more complex than that so watering with a can is genuinely very difficult and time consuming. It's a big assumption to just assume everyone else's garden is like your own. Waterbutt is running low and I'm saving that for the ericaceous plants that don't like mains water. I do save water from cooking and washing veg, but it doesn't go that far. I'm not putting bathwater that's full of soap on my plants, it's not good for them, or for the soil microbiome.

@Magicpaintbrush I'm not putting bathwater that's full of soap on my plants, it's not good for them, or for the soil microbiome.

So glad someone else made this point. Thank you.

And actually I don't think how easy/hard it is to water with a can is even the point. It's that water companies could have prepared so much better for this and they haven't. They are letting everyone down. Here in Kent there have been many instances since Spring of whole villages losing their water supply. It's a shitshow.

I am a bit unhinged on this issue because I seethe with rage all year when people power wash driveways and cars with masses of drinking quality water - I’m cross about both the amount used and about the quality of water used- and then in the summer I’m forbidden to take a hosepipe to my tiny wildlife pond.

Of course.

But if you have a garden which needs a lot of water you need to start thinking about changes, as the likelihood is that the climate will get hotter and drier.

i do want to report someone who uses a hosepipe to clean their driveway every other day for 3 hours with a pressure washer.

Does anyone know how to report them anonymously?

The woman lives opposite my parents

Someone upthread said if you put koi fish in it then you will be allowed to use a hosepipe to water your pond.

As someone paying an extortionate amount for annual water as it can’t be metered. I’ll use the water in whatever way I fancy.

We will comply because we don't like breaking the rules and use a watering can, also planning on adding more mulch to the beds to try and keep more water in. But it's frustrating when they have leaks and it's just pouring down the street! Also I'm not convinced it will save much water, with the long head on the hosepipe it's easier to direct the water under the leaves at the roots and only have the water running while in position. It's more awkward getting the water only at ground level with the can!

Did this take place during a hosepipe ban or do you just hate this person because you don't have the same values?

I live in Kent - we have hosepipe bans every year,and have had periods without water.Our water pressure is flaky at the best of times.
I have water butts and I’ll water with watering cans,I’m also trying to get my garden into a more drought tolerant state.
But - I think the state of the water industry is appalling, the condition of our seas and rivers is appalling, and that something as vital as the water industry shouldn’t be run privately for profit.

I get what you are saying but I don’t really think that’s what most people have an issue with . There are people on this thread complaining about their kids not being able to have waterfights to cool down . It’s the height of selfishness

Does this include filling up a paddling pool?

I won't comply, no.

We can’t get any further information in our area but our shower has just changed from low pressure to no water for the second night in a row.

You’d technically have to fill it with buckets or a wateringcan not a hose.

Completely agree. The water industry needs serious reform. That isn't an excuse for wasting water.

you dont need a hose to fill up a paddling pool, you are being ridiculous and selfish

A lot of the comments here don’t seem to join the dots.
People keep saying “what about all the leaks?” But where do people think that leaked water goes? It’s not lost forever. Much of it returns to the ground or rivers and can eventually become available again through the natural water cycle. The immediate problem isn’t that water has disappeared forever; it’s that there simply hasn’t been enough rain to replenish supplies.
Despite people claiming it’s “rained all year”, many parts of the country have actually experienced below-average rainfall for three consecutive years. That’s why reservoirs, rivers and groundwater are under pressure.
I also keep seeing people saying water companies should just abstract more water. They can’t. Abstraction licences are legal limits designed to protect rivers and wildlife. Exceeding those limits is illegal, and rightly so. The whole point of environmental regulation is to stop rivers being damaged during dry periods.
Yes, water companies want to avoid breaching their environmental permits and targets—because those rules exist to protect the environment. Surely that’s what we want?
Arguments about combined sewer overflows don’t change that. If you’re angry about pollution, the solution isn’t to support even more environmental damage by over-abstracting rivers.
As for golf courses, car washes and swimming pools, businesses are covered under a different stage of restrictions (Non-Essential Use Bans), not domestic hosepipe bans.
And yes, new reservoirs are being built, but reservoirs still need rainfall to fill them. Infrastructure helps, but it can’t create water.
Finally, water companies don’t decide how many houses get built, and they aren’t automatically granted extra abstraction licences to meet new demand because those licences are constrained by environmental limits.
Whether people like it or not, a Temporary Use Ban is a legal restriction, just as abstraction licences are legal restrictions on water companies. You can’t argue that companies should obey one set of environmental laws while encouraging everyone else to ignore another.

I have read every single post in this thread and you are grossly misrepresenting what people have said in this thread.

There is only 1 post that talks specifically about how it will be difficult for their kids to cool down with a hosepipe ban in place.
2 posts that mention sneakily filling up pools while watering plants, but no mention of kids in those posts.

Get water butts attached to your drainpipes. That's what we've done and we're in Scotland, so no ban.. We've even rigged up an overflow barrel so that one drainpipe collects twice the water now. Better for the garden anyway.

And I’m not in a ban. We never have a ban so it was purely hypothetical.