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!

That's an inaccurate statement, for a start, it would depend on how long you spend in the shower...

Also...

Water Usage Comparison

• Bathtubs: Require a set amount of water to fill up, typically around 120–150 litres (27–40 gallons) each time, no matter how quick you are.

• Standard Showers: (that most people have) use about 10–12 litres (2.5 gallons) per minute. A quick 5-minute shower uses about 50 litres, which is a third of the amount of water you would use having a bath.. Most people will have showers that are 6-7 minutes long or less.

• Power Showers: Use up to 15 litres (4 gallons) per minute. A longer shower of 7-9 minutes will still only use half the amount of water that a full bath does. A shorter one (4-5 minutes) will use even less!

If anyone is taking more than 5 or 6 minutes to have a shower they need to start reducing the time! Spending more time than that is bad for your skin, and bad for the environment/a waste of water. Only time I spend more than 4-5 minutes in the shower is when I am washing my hair - twice a week. (Then I spend 7 minutes in it.)

tl;dr having a shower is nearly ALWAYS a much better idea than having a bath.

And the vast majority of the time, you will use much less water!

Of course someone will now say 'but surely it depends how much water you put in the bath,' but most people will pretty much 'fill it' to the point where their body is submerged, and even if you try and use less water/don't fill it too much, you will still be using more than double the amount of water you would use for a shower - possibly triple the amount.

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I watched the news with the latest on the various conmen and scandals in the world, and then the newsreader said “And now for the hosepipe ban” and I thought “Are you kidding me? She might as well have said “And now, news for the plebs” because that’s how it is.

I've been ignoring it for weeks. I have 24 large water buckets that need filling at least twice a day and a load of sweaty horses to rinse off. Fuck doing that with a bucket and sponge. I'd get nothing else done.

Our reservoirs are totally full.

I use a watering can. Job done

You can water your flowers with a watering can or is that too much effort.

before the ban, I would spend 30mins - 1 hour watering my small garden with the hose, carefully watering the base of each of the big shrubs / new trees and each pot. now with the hosepipe ban, the garden tap feeds into a large trug on the patio and I dip 2 watering cans in the trug and walk them over to the plants and water. tap runs continuously for 30 mins - 1 hour and I empty the trug at the same rate the tap fills it. So the plants get the same water, i get a bit more exercise and the same amount of water is gone from the system! But at least the water company is saving me from having to go to the gym.

The water companies can go fuck themselves!

All those companies want is the compliant lot to provide them with a chance to avoid investment in infrastructure (including investment that makes emergency measures possible) and a chance to avoid deeper scrutiny.The politicians want no one to question the man made overpopulation of this island, as the locals are too busy logging water buckets around.

My water company, for example, advises running water for 5 minutes every time the tap is opened, instead of investing in lead-free pipes and sorting the issue once and for all. They also offered to continuously deliver bottled water and slashed my water bill, as what comes out of the tap is essentially not safe to consume. To top it off, lead content in water increases in heat and the pipes have numerous pin-prick leaks- as their own worker diagnosed.
Clearly, in their eyes, saving money by avoiding those repairs is still more important than saving the water....
They're having us over.Fuck them. Let it all fail and see if it prompts a change.

I never get this weird argument! You're still using the same amount of water. Whether you use the hosepipe or the watering can!

It just takes longer if you use the watering can, (a LOT longer in some cases,) and is a lot more effort. Older/elderly people, and people with disabilities find using a hosepipe way easier, and they are entitled to use it.

As I said, we have no hosepipe ban where I am, but if we did I would still use it. I have 100s of flowers including about 3 dozen large sunflowers, like hell am I watering them all with a bloody watering can! I'm using my hose. As I said, I won't be using any more water than if I used a watering can!

I know a few smug people claim to use their left over washing up bowl water to water all their plants/flowers 🙄but that's untenable for me. I have far too many plants/flowers!

Also, as some posters have pointed out, many water companies waste 10s of 1000s of gallons of water a month because of their ancient infrastructure, and leaks, (and not being arsed to fix the leaks or replace the ancient pipes,) and they charge a fortune for water rates. Ours are almost £900 a year! So they have got some bloody nerve telling us what water we can - and cannot use!

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I know the Covid restrictions were ridiculous in the end but this was like the people who said because x is doing this I can do y. Whereas because x is doing this you should think well they’re idiots and now I bleeping have to make sure I do something- not the extreme but if a hundred people decide eff it on the basis of those businesses then it’s a free for all

What did I say that warranted a deletion? I can't remember. If I upset someone, I apologise.

And people saying about the watering can vs hosepipe, an employee from Irish water was there’s always more water with a hosepipe, there’s what they call runoff at the end and it uses liters more than you’d carry about.

eta she said people get more carried away with hosepipes and keep them on longer too

I know a few smug people claim to use their left over washing up bowl water to water all their plants/flowers

I'm not smug, and I don't water all my plants with light grey water. What I do is use the light grey water I have to water some plants. The rest are watered by hose because we don't have a ban here. I would have thought if you have a trigger spray you would use the same amount of water as you would if using a watering can anyway.

Yes you are very unreasonable to keep watering your plants. Like or dislike water companies, but we are on our knees trying to keep up with demand. Hot weather makes the ground shift = broken pipes and burst rising mains. No amount of maintenance can help with that.

So please continue to water your plants whilst I and hundreds of others spend 7hrs a day on top of our day job handing out bottled water...

You're going to get roasted on here (probably already have been, I haven't bothered to read the usual Mumsnet scathing hysteria). However, I bet that paragon of truth and integrity, Saint Boris Johnson is not obeying any ban.

A lot of golf courses have now sunk their own boreholes, so that the water they use for the greens doesn't come from the mains supply - they are using 'raw' water rather than treated water. They may still distribute it round the site using a hosepipe, but this doesn't necessarily mean it's coming from the mains.

So you purport you’re working minimum 14.5 hours a day, with 7 of those handing out bottled water, because the companies don’t keep up with their basic maintenance standards

Do you sometimes cross the road when the lights are red too?

I have a friend who is on the board for his local golf course. They use a lot of grey water and the water within their lakes during hot weather. Yes, they use hoses, but it comes from their own water supplies. Also, it has been shown that the amount of water needed to bring a golf course back to green after a ban would be far more than frequent gentle watering during.

You may also find that the local splash pad you mention uses water recycling on a closed loop system. That's what my local one does. It filters the water before reusing it.

So, yes you're being unreasonable for continuing to use a hose pipe as you don't know all the information for these individuals businesses.

Im not allowed to do this Its housing association Do some reading and check your privilege.
Im currently sitting waiting for the HAs gas contractor to do the gas safety check which we still have to have even though we are CAPPED Thats what its like renting off an HA

It's shit OP, but honestly, we all have to do our bit. If everyone has your attitude we risk running out of water for our homes and having additional restrictions put in place. Do you want that? I know I don't. We've had a hosepipe ban for weeks and I can assure you that our local parks and gardens are looking as dried up and brown as our gardens are. We've been watering with cans and buckets though, filling up dishes and bird baths and watering flowers to provide food for insects. None of us wants this drought, I can assure you!

Isn't 90% of "recycling" sent to landfill anyway?

Anyhow, 2 wrongs don't make a right, so OP YABU. But I agree it IS infuriating esp when your provider is THAMES WATER. Anyhow, let's all be above that and do as much as poss to save water.

The others on your list are all businesses - there is a difference. YABU.
I’m using a hosepipe running slow to feed a mister to cool the air in part of the garden to stop my hens dying from the heat on the hottest days. Animal care is allowed, there are other exemptions too.
I remember the 1976 standpipes, it wasn’t fun.

I live in a HA property and this is what I have done, hence my suggestion. I had to apply to do it but there was no problem with it being allowed (or the outside light)). Don’t make presumptions about other people’s circumstances!

Oh so you’re allowed to use your hose?😂😂😂