To not stick to the hosepipe ban

[inyourheads]

Because no other fucker has to?

We’ve been told no more watering our plants or using the hosepipe from midnight tonight. However, since this announcement:

• A local business has confirmed their splash pad will be operational everyday this week from 8am to 8pm. How many millions of litres of water will that use?
• The local water park has also confirmed they will be open. Using more water and wasting more water.
• The local golf course has reassured members that they are able to keep watering the greens, so playing experiences won’t be compromised!
• Local parks will continue to be watered to “provide a green space for everyone”.
• Car washes etc in the local area are still allowed to operate.

I feel like it’s totally ridiculous that all that is allowed to happen, but I can’t use my hosepipe!

For those insisting a watering can would us the same amount of water as a hose…

Garden hose flow rate is average 9-17 L/min (2.5–4.5 GPM) for a standard 5/8-inch hose at normal household pressure.

A typical watering can volume is average 6-10L.

Do you seriously think you’re doing the equivalent of at least one watering can per minute?

Most people water very liberally with a hose, not stopping the flow between plants and often watering inefficiently by targeting the whole plant not just the base, or under and over watering some plants.
Watering cans can also be used with water butts not fresh drinking water taps.

I disagree. Some people have big gardens and it would take an hour or more to water using cans. All habitat are important. I totally get that we have an issue with water and we need to preserve it but I think we should prioritise plants over splash parks and car washes.

Someone in our road reported a mains leak.
It took a week to come out and a further week to fix.
300,000 litres - water for 200 homes for a week

I think in big gardens, you either take the hour to do the watering or you prioritise.

As many others have said, splash parks and car washes employ people and unless the govt do some sort of furlough scheme for these businesses, it wouldn’t be fair to say they should just close.

I expect the people who work at those places and need to pay rent and food etc would disagree! Unless the govt is arranging paid furlough for jobs affected by the drought?

Agree. Wrote my reply before reading yours and basically said the same thing.

You don’t even need to water all the plants in a big garden, some will be hardy and do just fine in droughts. I’ve barely watered my flower beds and most plants are still green and flowering.

Perhaps in this changing climate we should be thinking about adapting gardens to survive harsher winters and summers.

So get an electric shower fitted over the bath?

I think it's a shame that hosepipe bans are such a blunt instrument. It would be better if we all had an allowance to use as we wish but realistically that's very difficult to achieve. I have just been out of country for three weeks using zero water in the UK. I will probably water my plants with the hose tomorrow and I really don't think it will use more than 3 weeks of domestic use.

So you’re not happy that the water company is out fixing leaks? Hardly their fault that some repairs warrant a road closure for safety reasons. They can’t win.

They moved 15 million extra people into the UK over the last decade and acted surprised when there was not enough water, let alone ambulances, doctors, infrastructure.

Use your hose pipe whenever you like. You're fucked no matter what, just live your life any way you choose, but keep it out of the eye of the secret police, and that means not advertising on mumsnet anything you do that can be traced to you. The responses to this comment will prove my point.

They're good little comrades on this site and they do love a good snitch to the stasi.

Holiday lets. They have hot tubs. I also use all the water when I empty them on the gardens.

My hot tubs are eco friendly and use air source heat pumps. Filling them.with a watering can would take an awfully long time and would use exactly the same amount of water.

I think the hose pipe ban is more to stop people who may have a sprinkler running for several hours a day.

Don’t you get fined for hosing during a ban?

We have a small garden so mostly use watering cans anyway. My plants are still struggling anyway. We’ve had bits of rain here and there but then dry for days. My grass is crispy ( but the weeds are not!) my grass will grow again and i’ve not watered it. No ban here yet.

Its annoying when water companies allow so much wastage through leaks tho! Bigger picture is probably learning to adapt because this will keep happening until it’s the norm. Find plants that need less water!

Just use a watering can. The others are business's so of course it makes sense to exempt. It’s no big deal to use a watering can for a month or so.

I disagree.

They’re egregious wastes of water.

Yesterday we were talking about the very real possibility that our water would run out - reservoir levels are so low (SE) and we are in drought. I’m going to buy bottled water today and try to be ready for the worst case scenario. Everyone should be trying to reduce use and the whatabouttery in the media is a distraction from the real issues.

I’m not one to defend water companies, but it should be noted that some of the leaks have been caused by the prolonged drought. As the ground dries out it contracts, which can cause shifting around buried pipes that can make them crack. We’ve seen several round our way in the last 2 weeks, when previously no issues at all.

Car washes use very little water if you go to a modern one. Up to 90% of water is recycled.

Of course they are!

My DS has a bath everyday as he has autism and showers are a no no due to sensory issues. So yes, daily baths are sometimes needed

They sort of are the issue though aren’t they?

@TunnocksOrDeath I get that but this has been going on for years. My water company is dire, they have been fined multi millions (£122 million) for routinely dumping raw sewage in rivers, it wasn’t unusual to see a fleet of tankers lining the road nearby dealing with the pollution in the local river.

They are in £20 billion of debt, whilst they’ve handed out millions to their senior staff recently. The chief exec gets paid over £1million a year and the chief financial officer recently got a £1million signing bonus.

Meanwhile us customers have seen our bills rise by 40% over the last few years so I find it extremely irksome to receive a text message asking me to conserve water while I’m stuck for over a hour in a traffic jam due to a burst water pipe spaffing goodness knows how many gallons of precious water all over the road.

This raises the interesting question of what the priorities should be in a drought. You are focusing on businesses, perhaps because you a capitalist and think that the most important thing in the world is money and businesses, whereas I think that the most important thing is nature and our planet and therefore I think that it is important but we keep gardens growing just as much as anything else.

How you balance people's livelihoods with nature's needs in a drought is a good question, and I think that furlough for people working in businesses that are unable to continue could be something that could be considered, but only in the short term because long-term they need to accept that climate change means their business isn't viable in the summer and they need to diversify.

I don't think it is reasonable to expect to use gallons of water washing cars or providing a splash park when we are in a drought and people can't even water plants, which are important for pollination and for soil health.

I suspect you won't agree with me though.